Free Republic

The Dow Chemical Company said Friday it started commercial operations at its new propylene production facility in Freeport as Dow reiterates its commitment to the Texas Gulf Coast following news of its planned merger with DuPont. The massive propane dehydrogenation unit that makes propylene -- a core chemical building block of many plastics -- is located at Dow's Oyster Creek site in Freeport as part of Dow's $4 billion expansion in the area south of Houston. The plant can produce 750 kilotons of propylene a year. The growth is fueled by cheap natural gas from U.S. shale that serves as...

Enterprise Products Partners said Thursday it would expand and retool two Gulf Coast petrochemical pipelines and build a new third line. Houston-based Enterprise said the new projects will bring the company’s polymer grade propylene distribution system to a total length of 587 miles and connect the system to more than 30 petrochemical facilities along the Gulf Coast. The system is fed by six propane/propylene fractionators at Mont Belvieu that Enterprise owns. Propylene is used as a feedstock for consumer plastics and other fibers, and comes in three grades. Refinery grade propylene is about 70 percent pure, chemical is 92-96 percent...

Federal and state regulators have cleared the way for Formosa Plastics Corp. to begin construction on a $2 billion expansion of its petrochemical complex in Point Comfort. The approvals come two years after the private U.S. affiliate of the Taiwan-based industrial company announced plans to build new units and expand its capacity on 372 acres within its existing 1,600-acre site 120 miles southwest of Houston near Port Lavaca. It’s the fourth expansion since the Point Comfort plant went online in 1983. The Environmental Protection Agency issued final greenhouse gas permits and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality greenlighted the environmental...

Growing global demand is pushing a flurry of new construction, especially on the Texas Gulf Coast, of units for direct manufacture of propylene — a key chemical building block historically derived as a byproduct of other processes . In North America, propylene primarily has come from petrochemical plants using petroleum-derived naphtha as a feedstock. But that’s changing as the plants switch to ethane, a natural gas liquid that is now abundant and cheap because of the nation’s surging natural gas production. The ethane feedstock, however, produces little propylene. Propylene supplies have declined, contributing to occasional shortages, according to Enterprise Products...