PVC
Shintech and Formosa Plastics plan expansion in US / Focus on exports
Concrete plans are now emerging for PVC production expansion in the US. It is all part of the ongoing shale gas revolution and connected with favourable ethylene costs. A key production centre is located on the Mississippi River in the state of Louisiana, where nearly 40% of total US capacities of over 7.8m t/y are located, according to Plasteurope.com's Polyglobe database (www.polyglobe.net). The additional quantities are intended primarily for export. Currently, a good quarter of US PVC production is exported.
Shintech’s plant (Houston, Texas / USA; www.shintechinc.com) in Plaquemine near Baton Rouge is regarded as the world's largest single integrated PVC site. The US subsidiary of world market leader Shin-Etsu Chemical (Tokyo / Japan; www.shinetsu.co.jp) is currently building an ethane cracker there for the production of 500,000 t/y of ethylene and is due to go onstream in mid-2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 28.04.2015).
In autumn 2017, Shintech submitted plans to the relevant authority – the US Army Corps of Engineers (www.mvn.usace.army.mil) – for the construction of a pipeline for a new EDC/VCM facility in Plaquemine and the parallel expansion of PVC production. Capacity of the "SPP-1" will then be increased by around 390,000 t/y to nearly 1.1m t/y. No details have been given regarding the size of the new VCM production plant (SPP-3).
At the beginning of December, competitor Formosa Plastics Corporation USA (FPC, Livingston, New Jersey / USA; www.fpcusa.com) joined the fray by also announcing a production increase. The largest subsidiary of the Taiwanese Formosa Plastics Group intends to expand its PVC facility in Baton Rouge by around 140,000 t/y by 2020. According to Polyglobe, the company's present capacity there for PVC is 450,000 t/y.
FPC is currently in the process of building an ethane cracker with a capacity of 1.2m t/y at its central production site in Point Comfort, Texas. It is scheduled for completion in 2018. The company also wants to build another cracker of the same size by 2022 at the Mississippi site of St. James, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans (see Plasteurope.com of 15.03.2017).
Shintech’s plant (Houston, Texas / USA; www.shintechinc.com) in Plaquemine near Baton Rouge is regarded as the world's largest single integrated PVC site. The US subsidiary of world market leader Shin-Etsu Chemical (Tokyo / Japan; www.shinetsu.co.jp) is currently building an ethane cracker there for the production of 500,000 t/y of ethylene and is due to go onstream in mid-2019 (see Plasteurope.com of 28.04.2015).
In autumn 2017, Shintech submitted plans to the relevant authority – the US Army Corps of Engineers (www.mvn.usace.army.mil) – for the construction of a pipeline for a new EDC/VCM facility in Plaquemine and the parallel expansion of PVC production. Capacity of the "SPP-1" will then be increased by around 390,000 t/y to nearly 1.1m t/y. No details have been given regarding the size of the new VCM production plant (SPP-3).
At the beginning of December, competitor Formosa Plastics Corporation USA (FPC, Livingston, New Jersey / USA; www.fpcusa.com) joined the fray by also announcing a production increase. The largest subsidiary of the Taiwanese Formosa Plastics Group intends to expand its PVC facility in Baton Rouge by around 140,000 t/y by 2020. According to Polyglobe, the company's present capacity there for PVC is 450,000 t/y.
FPC is currently in the process of building an ethane cracker with a capacity of 1.2m t/y at its central production site in Point Comfort, Texas. It is scheduled for completion in 2018. The company also wants to build another cracker of the same size by 2022 at the Mississippi site of St. James, between Baton Rouge and New Orleans (see Plasteurope.com of 15.03.2017).
22.12.2017 Plasteurope.com [238669-0]
Published on 22.12.2017
German version of this article...