Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., part of the Japanese industrial giant Mitsubishi, axed plans to open a 350,000-metric-tons-per-year methyl methacrylate plant in the state of Louisiana, United States.
Methyl methacrylates, or MMAs, are monomers used to make viscosity modifiers for lubricants, among a host of other applications.
The company said the u-turn was driven by existing capacity being able to fulfill demand, cost inflation and failure to secure customers. Estimates put the loss to the company at U.S.$1.3 billion.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality was poised to sign off on permits before Mitsubishi pulled the plug. The project had nevertheless attracted some controversy. The location of the plant on the Mississippi River in Geismar drew objections because it is part of what’s known as “Cancer Alley” – a corridor of petrochemicals plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge where air quality is among the worst nationally.
If it had been built, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would have ranked the plant among the top 50 polluters in the state.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis also poured scorn on the project, publishing a report saying it was “the wrong project, at the wrong place and time, with the wrong financial scenario.”