Petrochemicals, Plastics Drive U.S. Chemical Industry's Fourth-Quarter Turnarounds

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The U.S. Chemical Processing Industry, like many other industries, has been struggling to figure out how it should deal with the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China, including tariffs from both countries that affect tens of billions of dollars in chemical products. One thing is for sure: In this environment, it's always best to make sure existing facilities are in the best possible condition. Industrial Info is tracking $350 million worth of maintenance-related projects in the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry that are set to begin from October through December.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing fourth-quarter maintenance kickoffs in the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry, by industry sector.

The petrochemical sector leads the industry in upcoming turnarounds, with nearly 80% of the related investment value attributed to projects on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Shintech Louisiana LLC's vinyls complex in Plaquemine, Louisiana, accounts for three: the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) and ethylene dichloride (EDC) areas of Unit 2, which process 2.25 billion and 2.69 billion pounds per year, respectively; chlor-alkali area of Unit 2, which produces 642,000 and 702,000 tons per year of chlorine and caustic soda, respectively; and a utilities area, which includes major electrical equipment and boilers.

Shintech's Plaquemine facility already is seeing a series of expansions to meet growing domestic and international demand for its products, including the construction of a third chlor-alkali unit and a third VCM/EDC unit, as well as an expansion to its PVC resins area of Unit 1. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports for Unit 2's VCM/EDC, chlor-alkali and utilities areas; Unit 3's chlor-alkali and VCM/EDC areas; and the Unit 1 PVC expansion.

Among the busiest cities in Texas is Deer Park, which is home to major facilities from two major companies: Royal Dutch Shell plc's (NYSE:RDS.A) (The Hague, Netherlands) petrochemical facility, which is preparing to perform routine inspections and repairs to its 1.6 billion-pound-per-year cumene unit, and DuPont's (NYSE:DD) (Wilmington, Delaware) acrylic resins facility, which is preparing to perform routine inspections and repairs to its cyanide unit. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the Shell and DuPont projects.

The Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast accounts for more than 80% of the U.S. plastics and rubber sector's maintenance investment, including the Polypropylene Unit 2 turnaround, which includes a pair of trains that produce a total of 876 million pounds per year, at Formosa Plastics Group's (Kaohsiung City, Taiwan) plastics plant in Point Comfort, Texas.

The Point Comfort plant has faced a series of setbacks this year, especially earlier this summer when a federal judge ruled it had committed "enormous" and repeated violations of state law and the U.S. Clean Water Act. Nevertheless, the facility is undergoing a major, multi-year series of expansions. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report, and July 5, 2019, article - Formosa Boasts $14 Billion in U.S. Activity, but Top Project Faces New Hurdles.

Outside the Gulf Coast, one of the top states for plastics and rubber turnarounds is Tennessee, where Lucite International Incorporated, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), is preparing for routine inspections and repairs to its acrylic resin and sheeting unit at a facility in Memphis. The facility also is preparing for maintenance on its sulfuric acid regeneration unit, which produces about 250,000 metric tons per year of sulfuric acid. For more information, see Industrial Info's reports on the sheeting and sulfuric acid units.

Industrial inorganic chemical producers are looking at a series of turnarounds in the Great Lakes region, where their products are used in automotive production and growing oil and gas exploration in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. PPG Industries Incorporated (NYSE:PPG) (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is preparing for a December turnaround on the North Production Plant Area at its facility in Barberton, Ohio, where products include design silicas used in paints, tires and reinforced rubber products. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.