The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has received an application for a Coastal Zone Act Permit from Praxair, Inc., an industrial gases company that operates a plant at the Delaware City Refinery site.
The company is seeking a permit to build a carbon dioxide purification and liquefaction unit and a nitrogen separation unit at the refinery 4550 Wrangle Hill Road.
The carbon dioxide unit will generate beverage-grade liquid carbon dioxide for use outside the refinery. The carbon dioxide units are used in soft drink beverage machines at restaurants and other sites.
The gas extraction sites are commonplace at refineries, which generate heat and exhaust during the process of making motor fuels.
The nitrogen unit will be used to separate nitrogen from ambient air for use at the refinery.
The carbon dioixe will be replacing an existing plant that has been operational for years and which will be ceasing operations once the new Praxair facility is operational.
The nitrogen facility will be a new use within the refinery’s footprint, but has no air, water or waste emissions. Emissions from the new Praxair carbon dioxide acility will be less than those from the current facility.
The Coastal Zone Act regulates and limits development in areas along the Delaware River and Bay and typically limits new projects to developed areas.
The act was aimed at halting the development of additional refineries in the stare.
Critics of the Delaware City Refinery have argued that a new rail handling facility for crude oil is not allowed under the act.
The investment by Praxair would be good news for the refinery, which reopened about half a decade ago under the ownership of PBF Energy, after closing due to massive losses during the economic downturn.
A number of East Coast refining sites remain closed and headed for demolition. Praxis Inc. is a Fortune 250 company with 2014 sales of $12.3 billion. It is the largest industrial gases company in North and South America..
Praxair operates retail sites for gases used in welding and home health care in northern Delaware.
