LONDON (Alliance News) - Hydrodec Group PLC Monday said its rebuilt and expanded plant in Canton, Ohio is expected to start production this week and first sales of base oil are expected shortly thereafter.
The Canton re-refinery was hit by an explosion and fire in December 2013, and Hydrodec subsequently decided to rebuild and extend the facility. It was able to claim back USD18.75 million including excesses from its insurers for the incident.
On Monday, the industrial oil re-refining company said the rebuilt and expanded plant at Canton is now commissioned and will start production this week subject to final instrument tuning. Expansion 'trains' 1 and 2 will be the first into full operation, and replacement 'trains' 3 to 6 will be started sequentially once production from 'trains' 1 and 2 has been fully established.
"The commissioning of Canton is very important for Hydrodec; bringing the new plant online has progressed carefully to fully enable the additional operational and safety features designed into this upgrade and which we are confident will deliver at least 10% greater efficiency than the name plate capacity of the original equipment," said Chief Executive Ian Smale.
First sales of base oil are expected shortly after production starts, with transformer oil sales following after detailed testing and certification, three to four weeks later, the company said.
"Orders for the newly commissioned capacity at Canton are very encouraging both for base oil and transformer oil," it added. "Hydrodec of North America expects to broaden its sales to a variety of new customers as well as re-initiate supply to most of our core customer base within a few months of start-up".
Hydrodec shares were down 0.3% at 8.48 pence Monday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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