15 May 2017
DETAILS
one of the world's largest plastics, chemicals
and refining companies,
has broken ground on the first commercial
Hyperzone polyethylene (PE) plant
at its La Porte, Texas, complex.
The plant will be capable of
producing 1.1 billion pounds (500,000 metric tons)
of high density polyethylene (HDPE) annually
and will employ LyondellBasell's
new proprietary Hyperzone PE technology
that provides enhanced material performance.
Startup of the plant is planned for 2019.
LyondellBasell is a global leader
in the development and licensing of polyolefin processes.
The company plans to make
the Hyperzone process technology
available for licensing in the future.
The technology took years to advance to commercialization
and was a product of
LyondellBasell's global research and development teams
in Ferrara, Italy; Frankfurt, Germany;
Cincinnati, Ohio; and Houston, Texas.
The company chose to build the new plant
at its existing La Porte Complex because of
* its proximity to price-advantaged U.S. feedstocks
* and the transportation infrastructure needed
to ship product to markets across the globe.
The project will create
* up to 1,000 jobs at the peak of construction
* and 75 permanent positions.
The La Porte Complex is
one of LyondellBasell's largest manufacturing facilities
spanning approximately 550 acres.
The complex has two docks on the Houston Ship Channel
and truck and rail transportation capabilities.
Once the Hyperzone PE plant is complete,
the La Porte Complex
will more than double its annual PE capacity
to 2 billion pounds (900,000 metric tons).
LyondellBasell currently produces
a total of 7 billion pounds (3 million metric tons)
of HDPE annually, including its share of capacity
through joint venture facilities.
The company is a leading worldwide producer
of all forms of PE with
an annual capacity of 12 billion pounds
(5 million metric tons).
The Hyperzone PE plant is part of LyondellBasell's plan
for $3-5 billion of investments along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The company recently completed work on
ethylene expansion projects at its La Porte, Channelview
and Corpus Christi sites in Texas.
Additionally, development of a world-scale
propylene oxide and tertiary butyl alcohol (PO/TBA) plant
at the company's Channelview site
is progressing and a final PO/TBA investment decision
is expected in the second half of 2017.
Bob Patel,
LyondellBasell CEO
"Today represents the launch of our latest innovation
in plastics technology,"
"The new Hyperzone PE plant will produce a better plastic
that advances solutions to modern challenges,
like protecting the purity of water supplies
through stronger and more versatile pipes
and ensuring the freshness of bulk foods
by providing tough, crack-resistant containers for storage.
This is truly a global effort developed
by an international team,
built to serve worldwide markets."
SOURCE LyondellBasell
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
