Chevron Phillips Chemical is building the 1.5m tonne/year ethane cracker at its Cedar Bayou complex in Baytown, Texas. It will provide feedstock to two new polyethylene plants also under construction. (Source: Chevron Phillips)
HOUSTON (ICIS)--Chevron Phillips Chemical expects to start up its new 1.5m tonne/year ethane cracker in the second half of 2017, an executive for the US-based company said on Wednesday.
The company is building the cracker at its Cedar Bayou complex in Baytown, Texas.
The cracker will provide feedstock for the two new polyethylene (PE) plants that the company is building in Old Ocean, Texas. The PE plants should start up in mid-2017, said Ron Corn, senior vice president of projects and supply chain for Chevron Phillips Chemical. He made his comments during a tour of the company's cracker site.
One plant can produce 500,000 tonnes/year of bimodal high-density PE (HDPE). The plant will use Chevron Phillips's Advanced Dual-Loop technology. The other new plant can produce 500,000 tonnes/year of metallocene linear low-density PE (LLDPE).
"These are modern leading-edge technologies," Corn said. "Our scientists are working on more customised resins with more unique properties. These units will have the flexibility to make these resins."
Initially, the company expects to export about 30-50% of the output of the PE plants, Corn said. That is in part because the company will continue to adjust the plants to make the company's more advanced grades.
In addition, Chevron Phillips needs to qualify these grades with some US customers, Corn said.
