PO/TBA Project Rises on New Wave of U.S. Petchem Development

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the latest indication that the new wave of U.S. Gulf Coast chemical projects continues unabated, LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) (Houston, Texas) announced last week that it green-lit a $2.4 billion propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) plant project in Texas.

LyondellBasell said it made a final investment decision on what it says will be the world's largest plant of its kind, capable of producing 1 billion pounds per year of PO and 2.2 billion pounds of TBA, following its completion in mid-2021.

LyondellBasell is proposing to build the plant at its Channelview complex near Houston. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2018, but the company cautioned last week that final site selection is contingent upon approval of certain economic incentives by the state of Texas. The front-end engineering design (FEED) work for the project has been completed, and it has received the required environmental permits, the company said. Industrial Info has tracked the project's development since 2014. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

PO is used in the manufacture of bedding, furniture, carpeting, coatings, building materials and adhesives. The TBA will be converted to two ether-based oxyfuels, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), each of which are high-octane gasoline components. The PO will be sold to domestic and global customers, and the oxyfuels will be shipped to Latin America and Asia.

The project is part of LyondellBasell's $5 billion growth program on the Gulf Coast. The company recently announced the completion of ethylene expansion projects at three Texas sites. Also, it broke ground in May on a 1.1 billion-pound-per-year polyethylene unit addition at its complex in La Porte, Texas, as part of its drive to export more polyethylene to Asia. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report. For related information, see June 6, 2017, article - LyondellBasell Concentrates on Growing PE Exports.

The new wave of petrochemical development is being felt as big producers are beginning to complete the first wave of projects that take advantage of low-lost, natural gas-derived domestic feedstock. Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) is turning its focus to incremental projects now that it is completing its big ethylene-related projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast and in Saudi Arabia. Among those completions are the 3 billion-pound-per-year LHC-9 (Texas 9) ethylene unit addition at Dow's Oyster Creek Chemical complex in Freeport, Texas, and the addition of a 650,000-metric-ton-per-year linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) unit in Freeport. See Industrial Info's project report for more information on ethylene unit addition, and the project report for the LLDPE unit. For related information, see April 28, 2017, article - Dow Chemical Turns Focus to Incrementals in Wake of Gulf Coast, Saudi Build-Ups, and June 16, 2017, article - Productivity a Growing Challenge for New Wave PetChem Projects.

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