Lyondell Plans Largest Single-Train Butanediol Facility, Polyol Expansion
Lyondell Chemical Co. (Houston, TX) will build the world's largest single-train butanediol (BDO) and derivatives facility in The Netherlands and expand its largest polyol plant by 50% in Texas. Both expansions tap into Lyondell's strength as the world's largest producer of propylene oxide (PO).
Butanediol (back to top)
When it opens at Lyondell's Botlek site near Rotterdam in late 2001, the BDO plant will have capacity for 275 million lb/y. Lyondell also operates a PO-based 120 million lb/y BDO plant at its Channelview, TX, facility.
"The BDO plant is a very attractive project for Lyondell both on a standalone and an integrated basis," says company executive VP Morris Gelb. "A number of commercial arrangements are already in place which collectively represent commitments for more than 75% of the new capacity. The facility will utilize Lyondell's PO production as its primary feedstock and will take advantage of site integration economics at Botlek."
The BDO plant was originally planned by Arco Chemical as part of an expansion that included a new propylene oxide plant. When Lyondell acquired Arco Chemical in July 1998, it pushed back construction of the proposed Rotterdam PO-11 unit and said it would reevaluate the BDO facility as a separate stand-alone facility. It has now decided to build the plant in Botlek.
The move catapults Lyondell into the front rank of BDO producers. Until now, it has run a distant fourth behind BASF, DuPont, and ISP in the United States. BASF is the largest global producer with capacity in Ludwigshafen as well as joint-ventures in Japan and South KoreaLyondell is the only company to make BDO from PO. Using a proprietary process, is isomerizes PO to form allyl alcohol, which it then catalytically converts in combination with hydrogen and synthesis gas into BDO. The process yields butanediol as well as allyl alcohols.
The process has several advantages. First, it builds on Lyondell's feedstock advantages as an integrated producer of propylene oxide and, propylene (through its Equistar Chemicals, LP, joint-venture). The technology allows Lyondell to very large single-train plants that achieve excellent economies of scale. The new plant is more than twice as large as its existing Channelview facility.
Other US producers use the Reppe process, which starts with acetylene and formaldehyde, and some overseas producers use technology based on maleic anhydride.
BDO is used to make polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resins, an engineering resin widely used on automobiles; gamma-butyrolactone (GBL); and urethane polymers used in automotive parts, sealants, adhesives, and appliance housings. The new facility also produces coproduct MPDiol, a liquid diol glycol used in saturated and unsaturated polyester resin molding compounds and coatings.
Derivatives from the new facility will include tetrahydrofuran (THF) and n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). THF is used as a solvent in the production of pharmaceuticals, magnetic tape, PVC cements, and vinyl films. It is also used to make Spandex elastomers, a growing use. NMP, which combines low toxicity and high solvating power, has grown rapidly in such environmentally sensitive applications as paint strippers, agricultural chemicals, and process applications.
"This investment will provide significant cash flow and expands the utilization of PO in high value fast growth downstream derivatives," said Gelb. "The global market for BDO and derivatives is growing rapidly. This project will enable Lyondell to meet the needs of BDO customers throughout the world. It is part of a disciplined capital spending program and will not affect our aggressive debt reduction targets."
Polyols (back to top)
Lyondell also plans to expand its Channelview, TX, polyols plant, the company's largest, by 50%, to more than 500 million lb/y. It expects the expansion to come on stream mid-2000. Feedstock will come from two adjacent Lyondell PO units, which are in turn sourced by an adjacent propylene plant operated by it Equistar joint-venture.
The expansion uses Lyondell's proprietary Impact technology, which cuts the cost of incremental expansion, uses significantly less energy, produces less waste, and produces high-purity polyols with less monol contamination. Polyols are used primarily in urethanes foams for furniture, bedding, automotive interiors; and in carpet backing, and in coatings, adhesives, sealants, and elastomer (CASE) products.
The Channelview Project (back to top)
The Channelview project is part of Lyondell's global Impact conversion program. "Combined with Lyondell's low cost position in olefins and propylene oxide," says Gelb, "the conversion to Impact technology provides us with the most efficient polyols production system in the world."
The company first demonstrated Impact technology at its South Charleston, WV, polyol plant in 1995. In 1998, it debottlenecked the plant and opened up second Impact polyol plant in Rieme, Belgium. This brought Lyondell's total Impact capacity to more than 200 million lb/y.
Impact virtually eliminates monol, a polyol byproduct that limits polyurethane use in some applications. Lyondell has used the technology to launch a number of specialty urethane over the past four years. These include Acclaim polyols for adhesives, sealants, and elastomers and Accuflex polyols for footwear.
Impact-derived polyols generally show superior tensile and tear strength, better elongation and dynamic properties, and reduced compression set and hysteresis. By stretching properties, Impact polyols are able to compete with more expensive materials.
In addition to being the world's largest PO producer, Lyondell is the number two supplier of polyols and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). It also produces propylene glycol; PO derivatives, such as propylene glycol ether (PGE), styrene; PO coproducts such as styrene and methyl tert- butyl ether (MTBE).
Lyondell holds a 41% interest in Equistar, North America's largest olefin and polyethylene producer; a 58.75% interest in Lyondell-Citgo Refining LP, a large refiner that specializes in processing heavy Venezuelan crude oil; and a 75% interest in Lyondell Methanol Company, LP, the third largest methanol producer in the United States.
For more information: For more information: Ed Dineen, SVP, Urethane Chemicals, Lyondell Chemical Co., PO Box 3646, Houston, TX 77253-3646. Phone: 713-652-7200. Fax: 713-652-4538.
By Alan S. Brown