Nova Chemicals Corp., Calgary, has commissioned the Polyethylene 1 (PE1) plant expansion project at its ethylene and PE complex in Joffre, near Read Deer, Alta. (OGJ Online, July 1, 2013).
The 450,000-tonne/year, single-train linear low-density PE (LLDPE) gas phase reactor, which reached startup in December 2016, is now producing butene LLDPE for shipment to customers, Nova Chemicals said.
The first new LLDPE reactor in the Americas in more than a decade, the $1-billion project expands nameplate PE capacity at Joffre by 40% to about 3.5 billion lb/year, lifting the company’s total PE output from its operations to about 5 billion lb/year, the operator said.
Mechanically completed in September 2016, the PE1 expansion’s gas phase LLDPE reactor—the Joffre plant’s third—produces Nova Chemicals’ proprietary Novapol butene LLDPE resin to help meet customers’ growing demand for raw materials used to manufacture flexible film products that include food packaging, heavy-duty sacks, collation shrink, as well as trash bags and liners, the company said.
The PE1 expansion experienced a brief delay in early 2016 when Nova Chemicals temporarily suspended construction in the wake of a contractor fatality following an industrial accident at the project site (OGJ Online, Apr. 28, 2016).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
