Dow completes construction of ethylene production facility in Freeport, the US

The Dow Chemical Company has completed the construction phase of its new, world-scale ethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas, the US.

Dow's ethylene unit is now progressing through the commissioning phase, with start-up expected by mid-year.

"The Freeport ethylene unit is the cornerstone of our US$6 billion investment in the US Gulf Coast. Our growth investments leverage the advantaged shale gas supply available in the US, and represent thousands of new jobs and significant economic value, including exports of approximately 20% of our US production," said Andrew Liveris, Dow's Chairman and CEO.

Dow said the new unit also represents one of the least capital-intensive ethylene investments currently announced across the US Gulf Coast.

"This unit will further enhance Dow's industry-leading integration and provide the critical building blocks to bolster our competitive advantage in targeted consumer-led markets, including packaging, transportation, infrastructure and consumer care," said Jim Fitterling, Dow's President and Chief Operating Officer.

"Not only does this investment leverage Dow's early-mover advantage in shale gas, but it will also fuel the industry's broadest and most differentiated derivatives slate, featuring Dow's proprietary catalyst and process technologies, to meet growing consumer demand throughout the Americas."

The world-scale production unit, with a nameplate capacity of 1.5 million metric tons, will feed Dow's derivative investments, which will come on-line throughout 2017 and 2018 and include:

- ELITE enhanced polyethylene (PE) for high performance flexible food packaging and personal hygiene applications (Capacity: 400 kiloton per annum (KTA));

- New specialty low density PE (LDPE) for industrial and supply chain packaging applications (Capacity: 350 KTA);

- Next generation NORDEL metallocene ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) to deliver solutions for higher-margin applications for the transportation, infrastructure and consumer durables end-markets (Capacity: 200 KTA);

- High melt index specialty and conventional polyolefin elastomers (POE) for high performance flexible packaging, transportation and consumer markets (Capacity: 320 KTA); and

- Bi-modal gas phase de-bottleneck to enable more offerings for high-performance pipe and fitting applications, as well as the cap and closure market (125 KTA).