21-09-2017
Dow announces start-up of world-scale ethylene production facility
DowDuPont Materials Science, the business division of DowDuPont to be named Dow, announced the startup of its new integrated world-scale ethylene production facility and its new ELITE™ enhanced polyethylene production facility, both in Freeport, Texas. These two key milestones enable Dow to capture benefits from increasing supplies of U.S. shale gas to deliver differentiated downstream solutions in its core market verticals.
Both units will continue to ramp up through the third quarter and are expected to reach full rates in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“This is a monumental moment for Dow as we advance our global growth strategy by fully deploying our unmatched molecular and physical integration,” said Andrew Liveris, executive chairman of DowDuPont, and chairman and CEO of Dow. “These facilities are an integral part of Dow’s investments on the U.S. Gulf Coast to meet increasing consumer-led demand in our core market verticals of packaging, infrastructure and consumer care, and will enable our next level of earnings and cash flow growth.”
A central component of Dow’s U.S. Gulf Coast investments, the ethylene production facility has an initial nameplate capacity of 1.5 million metric tons. As part of Dow’s next wave of growth investments, the unit will be expanded to 2 million metric tons, making it the world’s largest ethylene facility. Measured by total investment per metric ton of capacity, this new ethylene unit represents the least capital-intensive ethylene investment in the region.
The 400,000 metric ton ELITE™ polyethylene production unit is the first of four new derivative units at Dow’s manufacturing sites in Texas and Louisiana. Dow’s ELITE™ enhanced polyethylene resins are known for their versatility and high performance attributes and are used in multiple types of flexible food and industrial packaging applications.
“As we ramp these units to full production, we continue to solidify our early-mover advantage while significantly increasing our integration and growing our U.S. production capacity,” said Jim Fitterling, chief operating officer for DowDuPont Materials Science. “Dow’s new ethylene facility provides a solid, capital-efficient base in this attractive, feedstock-advantaged region, which will continue to fuel the industry’s broadest and most differentiated derivatives slate.”
In addition to supporting Dow’s near-term capacity additions, the ethylene facility will also support further planned debottlenecks to unlock additional polyethylene capacity as well as a new world-scale polyethylene unit as part of the Company’s comprehensive growth investments. The remaining derivative assets to come online in the U.S. Gulf Coast include:
* New specialty low density polyethylene (capacity: 350 KTA) for industrial and supply chain packaging applications, expected to startup later this year;
* Next generation NORDEL™ metallocene EPDM (capacity: 200 KTA) to deliver solutions for higher-margin applications for infrastructure and consumer durables end-markets, expected to startup in early 2018;
* Bi-modal gas phase de-bottleneck (125 KTA) to enable more offerings for high-performance pipe and fitting applications, as well as the cap and closure market, to follow later in 2018;
* High Melt Index Specialty and Conventional Polyolefin Elastomers (capacity: 320 KTA) for high-performance flexible packaging end-markets, expected to come online in late 2018;
* World-scale polyethylene unit based on Dow’s proprietary Solution Process technology (capacity: 600 KTA) to meet demand in food and specialty packaging, expected to come online by 2022.
News Category:
-
Beyond processbook & PI vision: Exploring today’s industrial analytics tools
(Webinar) - In the Manufacturing 4.0 era, industrial organizations have more data at their fingertips than ever, offering the promise of higher production rates, more ...
04-06-2024
-
Worley awarded Bayou Bend CCS carbon capture and storage facility contract
We’ve been selected to design and evaluate CO2 gathering, handling and sequestration facilities located along the Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas. Bayou Bend ...
13-05-2024
-
Black & Veatch delivers feasibility study for Andes Energy LNG Terminal
Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure solutions leader Black & Veatch has completed a feasibility study for the planned Andes Energy Terminal, LNG regasification ...
09-05-2024
-
Shell to sell interest in Singapore Energy and Chemicals Park to CAPGC
Shell Singapore Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Shell plc, has reached an agreement to sell its Energy and Chemicals Park in Singapore to CAPGC Pte. Ltd., a joint venture company ...
08-05-2024
-
Integrated Global Services recognized for role in mega turnaround
Integrated Global Services has been recognized as a major contributor to the successful Ras Tanura Refinery 2024 Mega Turnaround and Inspection for Saudi Arabian Energy ...
08-05-2024
-
BASF invests in capacity expansion of Basoflux® range of paraffin inhibitors
BASF plans to expand the global production capacity of its Basoflux® range of paraffin inhibitors at its site in Tarragona, Spain. This investment will enable BASF’s ...
07-05-2024
-
Ebara Elliott Energy to provide compressor for SAF project in Thailand
Ebara Elliott Energy, formerly Elliott Group, announces it has been contracted to provide a motor-driven recycle compressor with a variable frequency drive (VFD) for ...
07-05-2024
-
ETH Zurich select hte to provide high throughput test system designed for CO2 electroreduction
hte – the high throughput experimentation company was awarded a contract by the technical university ETH Zurich to provide a high throughput test system designed for ...
07-05-2024
-
TotalEnergies and Sinopec strengthen cooperation
On the occasion of the state visit to France by the President of the People's Republic of China, TotalEnergies, represented by Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO, and ...
07-05-2024
-
IPP enters agreement to market ammonia, methanol and melamine plants in Ludwigshafen
BASF and International Process Plants (IPP), a global leader in the acquisition and sale of process plants and equipment, have entered an agreement to market ammonia, ...
06-05-2024