Sasol ramps up ethylene production at Louisiana complex

Sasol Ltd. is increasing production rates following the replacement of acetylene reactor catalyst at its Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), an integrated ethane cracker and downstream derivatives complex commissioned earlier this year in Westlake, La., near Lake Charles (OGJ Online, Aug. 30, 2019; Feb. 14, 2019).

The cracker, which achieved beneficial operation in August, had been running about 50-60% of its nameplate 1.5 million-tonne/year capacity because of underperformance of the plant’s acetylene removal system, Sasol said on Dec. 17.

An outage to replace the catalyst recently was completed on schedule and within budget, which resolved the issue.

Following the maintenance outage, the unit was started up smoothly, with ethylene production rates now at about 85-90% of nameplate capacity and continuing to increase, Sasol said.

Ethylene production quality also US Gulf Coast ethylene pipeline specifications, the operator added.

Sasol said it also looks forward to completing the LCCP’s low-density polyethylene unit that, now in its commissioning phase, is scheduled to reach beneficial operation by yearend.

Currently, Sasol said it expects the timeline for LCCP’s other remaining three units to achieve beneficial operation to be as follows:

• Zeigler alcohols unit: January 2020.
• Guerbet alcohols unit: March 2020.
• Ethoxylation unit: January 2020.