Shintech Louisiana LLC, the US subsidiary of Tokyo-based Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd.’s Shintech Inc., has commissioned its long-planned grassroots ethylene plant in Plaquemine, La. (OGJ Online, Apr. 23, 2015).
Construction of the 500,000-tonnes/year ethylene plant, the first ever to be built in the US by a Japanese operator, has been completed, with the plant producing ethylene as of Feb. 13, project contractor Toyo Engineering Corp. and subsidiary Toyo USA Inc. said.
The service provider disclosed no further details regarding the plant’s commissioning, and neither Shin-Etsu nor Shintech have confirmed current production rates at the site.
In a Feb. 7 conference call with investors discussing quarterly financial results for the 3-month period ending Dec. 31, 2019, Shin-Etsu—which most recently planned to commission the Plaquemine plant by yearend 2019—said Shintech was in the process of starting up the ethylene production site and expected to begin cracking operations during the first week of February.
First announced in 2014, the new ethylene plant comes as part of Shintech’s strategy of eliminating ethylene imports by setting up in-house ethylene production starting from its own raw materials to ensure a stable supply and further strengthen its existing integrated polyvinyl chloride (PVC) manufacturing site in Plaquemine (OGJ Online, Apr. 16, 2014).
Plaquemine expansion
Shintech Louisiana also is proceeding with its previously announced $1.49 billion investment to develop a chloralkali and vinyl chloride monomer production plant and expand the Plaquemine PVC manufacturing site (OGJ Online, July 24, 2018).
As initially planned, the phased expansion was to include construction of a new plant capable of producing 860,000 tpy of vinyl chloride monomer (the raw material of PVC) and 660,000 tpy of caustic soda.
Scheduled to be completed in late 2020 and enter operation in early 2021, the expansion comes as part of Shintech’s plan to keep pace with the market as global demand for PVC—used in a variety of applications in the building and construction, healthcare, electronics, automobile, and other sectors—continues to grow, as well as the company’s aim to increase its manufacturing presence in the North American market.
