RELEASED ON 14/01/13 (DD/MM/YY)

Westlake Chemical has started the expansion of its Petro 2 ethylene unit located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, US.

The expansion at the site, which includes two ethylene plants, two polyethylene (PE) plants and a styrene monomer plant, will increase ethane-based ethylene capacity by 230 - 240 million lbs per annum.
"Westlake Chemical has started the expansion of its Petro 2 ethylene unit."

The combined capacity of the two ethylene and PE plants are 2.5 and 1.4 billion lbs per annum respectively, while the styrene plant has a capacity of 570 million lbs per annum.

The project, which is the first stage of a two-phase expansion, is expected to increase overall ethylene capacity at the Lake Charles site by 500 million lbs/year by 2015, reports Chem Week.

The expansion work, which is taking place during a scheduled maintenance turnaround, is expected to complete in 60 days.

In addition to ethylene and propylene, Westlake manufactures various petrochemicals including polymers, polyethylene, styrene, caustic soda, vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride and PVC pipe.

SOURCE Chemicals-Technology.com