Thermaldyne To Build $19M Plant In West Baton Rouge Parish

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

The Greater Baton Rouge area has registered another real estate addition. Gov. Bobby Jindal announced this week that Thermaldyne, a provider of environmental and industrial waste remediation services, plans to develop an indirect thermal desorption plant in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Thermaldyne will invest $19 million to develop the project. The new plant will be equipped with the latest industrial waste remediation technology, and will use heat to separate contaminants from the solid waste streams, such as soil, sludge or filter cake, for the petrochemical and oil and gas industries. It will also be the company’s first such facility in the area.

Construction is expected to start in the third quarter of 2015, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2016. The facility will be built on a 25-acre site, at the recently established 200-acre USA Rail Terminal Industrial Park, near Port Allen. The $14.3 million Phase 1 of the $80 million industrial park was announced last February. Thermaldyne’s industrial waste remediation plant represents the first of several commercial operations currently being developed for the park.

According to Louisiana Economic Development, the project will create 45 new direct jobs, with an average annual salary of $70,000 plus benefits. It is also expected to create 111 indirect jobs in the region. Thermaldyne will start hiring later this year. The company plans to use the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.