Chevron Phillips Chemical has started operations of a new ethane cracker at its Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, US.
The unit will manufacture 1.5 million metric tons/3.3 billion lbs. a year at peak production.
Last September, Chevron Phillips commissioned two new Marlex polyethylene units in Old Ocean, Texas, based on its MarTech technologies.
The units form the bulk of the company’s US Gulf Coast Petrochemicals Project (USGCPP), which was unveiled in 2011.
The project will use abundant shale feedstocks to meet the increasing worldwide demand for plastic products.
Upon starting production, the project will serve the global demand for high quality plastics in industries as varied as rigid and flexible packaging, industrial films, automotive, pressure pipe and conduit, and several consumer goods.
Ethylene produced from the new ethane cracker will be used to meet the requirements of the company’s derivative units, including the two new polyethylene units at Old Ocean, Texas.
The units are capable of producing a range of products, including metallocene linear low-density polyethylene to Advanced Dual Loop bimodal polyethylene resins.
The resins are in-turn converted into consumer and industrial products such as plastic films for food safety and preservation; and polyethylene pipe for water distribution and natural gas transport.
Besides this, the ethylene will also feed the company's AlphaPlus normal alpha olefins plants which are used for polyethylene comonomers, plasticizers, synthetic motor oils, lubricants, automotive additives, surfactants, paper sizing, and in a wide range of other specialty applications.
Chevron Phillips Chemical president and CEO Mark Lashier said: "Construction of these world-scale assets has been ongoing since 2014 and today, we are entering a new era of growth.
"With global demand for ethylene and polyethylene poised for sustained long-term growth, the US Gulf Coast Petrochemicals Project will allow Chevron Phillips Chemical to deliver high-quality products to our customers across the country and around the globe."
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company is an indirect subsidiary of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, which produces olefins and polyolefins and supplies aromatics, alpha olefins, styrenics, specialty chemicals, plastic piping and polymer resins.