Flack & Kurtz develops co-generation plant in TX.Flack + Kurtz, consulting engineers has announced that it has taken the final step toward making, Phelps Dodge Phelps Dodge Corporation is a former United States company founded in 1834 by Anson Greene Phelps and William E. Dodge. On March 19, 2007, it was acquired by Freeport-McMoRan and now operates under the name Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Refining Corporation's El Paso El Paso (ĕl pă`sō), city (1990 pop. 515,342), seat of El Paso co., extreme W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Juárez, Mex.; inc. 1873. plant the most energy-efficient copper refinery in the world. In mid-May, Flack + Kurtz completed the last phase of a cogeneration system designed to reduce Phelps Dodge's electrical costs by 75 percent. "With the implementation of this system," states Sheldon Steiner, vice president, Flack + Kurtz, "Phelps Dodge has taken a major step toward insuring its prominent position as a world-class refinery." The New York-based Flck + Kurtz has developed similar facilities for such clients as Brooklyn Union Gas, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , National Beef Packing Co., Kansas, and Pepsico's New York and McDonald's Illinois corporate headquarters. Phelps Dodge Refinery Corporation is the country's leading copper producer. It produces over one-third of the copper mined in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The El Paso refinery produces 430,000 tons of cathode copper annually. The electrolytic process An electrolytic process is the use of electrolysis industrially to refine metals or compounds at a high purity and low cost. Some examples are the Hall-Héroult process used for aluminium, or the production of hydrogen from water. used to refine cathode copper consumes large amounts of electrical and thermal energy thermal energy Internal energy of a system in thermodynamic equilibrium (see thermodynamics) by virtue of its temperature. A hot body has more thermal energy than a similar cold body, but a large tub of cold water may have more thermal energy than a cup of boiling , making energy the product's second highest cost. Labor is its first. Therefore, any increase in utility rates threatens El Paso's ability to keep its prices competitive in the global marketplace. Phelps Dodge's decision to switch to cogeneration was based on several factors - fluctuating fluc·tu·ate v. fluc·tu·at·ed, fluc·tu·at·ing, fluc·tu·ates v.intr. 1. To vary irregularly. See Synonyms at swing. 2. To rise and fall in or as if in waves; undulate. v. federal policies, shifts in the economy, low copper prices, technical advances in alternative energy sources, and ever-increasing utility costs. For the past decade, Phelps Dodge's local utility, the El Paso Electric Company, has suffered severe financial nuclear difficulties resulting from a costly investment in an Arizona nuclear-power project and a number of real estate ventures that went sour. The burden of these losses was passed on to its customers. Phelps Dodge was amongst El Paso's largest industrial users. On January 8, 1992, El Paso Electric filed a petition for bankruptcy. However, due to Phelps Dodge's conversion to cogeneration, anticipated electric rate increases will have little if no affect on copper-refining costs. |
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