Borden Chemical Fayetteville (2600009)

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Formaldehyde Manufacturing Plants:


The facility has four "continuous process" manufacturing plants to produce formaldehyde. The three older formaldehyde plants (1956, 1963, and 1965) use silver as a catalyst in their reaction process and are often referred to as the "silver plants". The formaldehyde product is produced by reacting methanol with air using a silver catalyst and then scrubbing the resulting gas with water. The emissions of formaldehyde, methanol, and hydrogen gas are controlled using two tail gas-fired boilers. Tail gas-fired boiler no. 1 (12.4 million Btu per hour) is used to control the emissions from formaldehyde plants 1 and 2, while tail gas-fired boiler no. 2 (20.9 million Btu per hour) is used to control the emissions from formaldehyde plant 3. Except for start-up, supplemental fuel is not required for the tail gas-fired boilers. The formaldehyde plants are subject to the requirements of the Hazardous Organic NESHAP (HON). The "newer" formaldehyde manufacturing plant (1989) uses molybdenum oxide as a catalyst and is often referred to as the "mixed oxide" or "MO" plant. The emissions from this plant are controlled using a catalytic oxidizer.

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