Nova Awards E&C Firm For Styrene Expansion In Texas

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Nova Chemicals Incorporated (NYSE: NCX) (Calgary, Alberta) plans to increase styrene monomer production capacity by 450 million pounds to an estimated 1.7 billion pounds per year at its Pasadena, Texas location (Plant 1517982) as first reported (PEC 01006007) by Industrial Information Resources in September 2002.

Washington Group International Incorporated (NASDAQ: WGII) (Boise, Idaho) has completed the front-end engineering and Jacobs Engineering Group Incorporated (NYSE: JEC) (Pasadena, California) from Houston, Texas has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract.

Civil and structural work is slated to begin in October and equipment installation, which consists of four reactors, twenty-one heat exchangers, one distillation column and several new towers, is scheduled for the beginning of next year. The plant hopes to be complete the debottleneck by the end of 2004.

In addition to styrene monomers, Nova also manufactures ethylene, polyethylene and styrenic polymers. Styrene is a clear and colorless liquid that is used with other materials to make thousands of consumer products and is also the primary raw material used in the production of polystyrene.