Ineos Expanding PAO Unit at LaPorte
Ineos Oligomers is expanding its plant for High Viscosity polyalphaolefins (PAO) at La Porte, Texas, in stages up to mid-2025.
When the upgrade is complete, output capability will rise to nearly 40,000 t/y to meet the “significant demand” for wind turbines and other industrial applications.
The sub-unit of the UK- based olefins and polyolefins group said the facility, which uses a metallocene High Viscosity PAO technology, was built with a nameplate capacity of 20,000 t/y but was engineered to allow efficient expansion to support anticipated sales growth. It was debottlenecked last year to achieve the current yield of 25,000 t/y.
Compared with conventional materials, these decene-based metallocene products have a number of superior attributes such as higher viscosity indices, lower pour points, higher shear stability and lower Brookfield viscosities, Ineos said.
Ineos Oligomers recently started up a new 120,000 t/y Low Viscosity PAO unit at Chocolate Bayou, Texas, which it claims is the world’s largest single PAO train and positions it as the world’s largest merchant supplier of LV PAO .
With what it calls an “unprecedented” production footprint in LV PAO, the company operates plants at three locations, which it said provides stronger security of supply to the global lubricants industry.
Joe Walton, CEO of Ineos Oligomers, said the producer’s world-scale capacity expansions in both LV and HV PAO, together with their corresponding LAO feedstock, underscore its market leadership. He added that the investments are a component of the Ineos arm’s organic growth strategy that will ultimately double the size of its business.
Auhtor: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
