LyondellBasell has named Channelview, Texas, as the site of its planned US Gulf Coast production facility for 410,000 t/y of propylene oxide (PO) and 900,000 t/y of tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA).

The new facility is planned to be the largest ever for the olefins and polyolefins group headquartered at Rotterdam in the Netherlands and managed from Houston, Texas. Front-end engineering will begin soon and environmental permit applications filed and funding to order long lead-time equipment secured, LyondellBasell said.

A final investment decision is to be made following completion of the engineering design work.

The project is part of LyondellBasell's previously announced $3-4 billion expansion drive for the Texas coast over the next five years. An expansion of ethylene capacity has already been completed at Channelview and La Porte, and a third ethylene expansion is currently under way at Corpus Christi.

In the words of CEO Bob Patel, the new plant, which will use LyondellBasell's proprietary PO/TBA technology proprietary technology, will leverage the low-cost, shale-derived natural gas liquids available on the US Gulf Coast “to capture maximum advantage of market opportunities.”

The Bayport Choate site near Pasadena, Texas, has been identified as the site for the group’s ethers unit, which will produce oxy-fuels for high octane gasoline.  A split facility design between the Channelview and Bayport sites is designed to optimize product balances between the sites and create additional synergies.

PO output from the new Channelview plant will be sold globally to meet growing demand for polyurethanes. Output of TBA and its derivatives, including oxy-fuels, will be sold to manufacturers of high octane gasoline blending components as well as synthetic rubber and lubricant additives.