DowDuPont Materials Science, the business division of newly formed DowDupont, has commissioned ethylene and polyethylene (PE) units in Freeport, Tex., as part of Dow Chemical Co.'s previously announced $6-billion US Gulf Coast (USGC) investment program in Texas and Louisiana on projects to utilize low-cost and advantaged US shale gas feedstock (OGJ Online, June 7, 2017; Mar. 30, 2017).
The 1.5 million-tonne/year ethylene plant and 400,000-tpy PE plant—which is based on Dow’s proprietary Solution process technology for production of the company’s ELITE brand enhanced PE resins—were both in operation as of Sept. 21, DowDupont said.
Due to continue ramping up through the third quarter, both units are scheduled to reach full production rates during the fourth quarter, the operator said.
The company also confirmed plans to expand nameplate capacity of the ethylene plant—a central component of its current USGC investments—to 2 million tpy. Alongside supporting additional debottlenecking projects aimed at unlocking additional polyethylene capacity, the planned ethylene expansion also will support the proposed construction of another grassroots polyethylene unit as part of the operator’s next $4-billion wave of comprehensive growth investments over the next 5 years to expand its US petrochemicals manufacturing business (OGJ Online, May 12, 2017).
Further details regarding the proposed ethylene expansion and future PE unit, however, were not disclosed.
The first of four derivative investments to be completed at Dow’s operations in Texas and Louisiana, the recently commissioned Freeport ELITE PE unit will be joined by startup of the following projects by yearend 2018:
• A 350,000-tpy specialty low-density PE unit for industrial and supply-chain packaging applications slated to come online by yearend.
• A 200,000-tpy proprietary next-generation NORDEL metallocene ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer unit slated for startup in early 2018.
• A 125,000-tpy bimodal gas-phase debottleneck to increase production of bimodal PE resins for high-performance pipe and fitting applications as well as the cap-and-closure market planned for startup later in 2018.
• A 320,000-tpy increase in output of high-melt index specialty and conventional polyolefin elastomers for flexible packaging, transportation, and consumer markets due to come online in late 2018.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].