U.S. Petrochemical Sector Eyes Sustainability Amid Maintenance

Inflationary fears are waning, and commodity prices are less volatile, but the U.S. Chemical Processing Industry still is feeling the effects of unpredictable geopolitical conflicts and an aggressive push for cleaner, more sustainable production. Careful, consistent maintenance will be necessary to boost the industry's output of high-demand petrochemical products like ethylene, while keeping carbon emissions relatively low. Industrial Info is tracking more than 50 maintenance-related projects at U.S.-based petrochemical and petrochemical-derivative facilities that are set to kick off in the fourth quarter, about half of which are in Texas and Louisiana.

Dow Incorporated (NYSE:DOW) (Midland, Michigan) and Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) (The Woodlands, Texas) each account for four projects, more than any other company, and are driving much of the maintenance investment in Texas and Louisiana. Dow's turnaround on Ethylene Glycol Unit 1 at its St. Charles facility in Hahnville, Louisiana, which includes work on Ethylamines Unit 1 and supporting areas, is expected to run from October through November. Ethylene glycol is used widely in antifreeze, de-icing and brake-fluid products.

Ethylene glycol is produced through the reaction of ethylene oxide with water. Dow's turnaround is set to follow ongoing maintenance on its 1.425 billion-pound-per-year ethylene unit at the same complex, which is set to wrap up in mid-October. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Chemical Processing Plant and Project databases can learn more from a detailed plant profile and project reports on the ethylene glycol and ethylene units.

"The completion of our cracker turnaround in Texas in the second quarter will be offset by another planned turnaround at our St. Charles, Louisiana, cracker in the third quarter," said Jeff Tate, the chief financial officer of Dow, in a recent quarterly earnings-related conference call. "We expect an approximately $25 million headwind due to the planned maintenance activity in the U.S. Gulf Coast."

In Texas, Dow expects to begin maintenance on an ethylene oxide derivatives unit at its chemicals plant in Seadrift, which sits on the Gulf Coast between Corpus Christi and the Houston area, toward the end of the year. The unit produces roughly 204,000 metric tons per year of ethanolamines and 70,000 metric tons per year of n-butyl acetate. Subscribers can learn more from a detailed project report.

Huntsman's projects include the MDI Unit 3 at its Rubicon plant in Geismar, Louisiana, which produces about 970 million pounds per year of methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). In Texas, it expects to perform a two-week turnaround at the utilities area at its plant in Conroe that supports the production of polyetheramine, which is produced through the reaction of either ethylene oxide or propylene oxide with polyols. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Geismar and Conroe projects.

Other major project developers planning fourth-quarter maintenance include TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) (Courbevoie, France) and Olin Corporation (NYSE:OLN) (Clayton, Missouri), both of which have projects in southern Louisiana. TotalEnergies is scheduled to perform inspections and repairs to the Styrene A Unit at its Cos-Mar Styrene Plant in Carville; about 10 miles northwest, Olin is planning work on perchloroethylene and ethylene dichloride units at its plant in Plaquemine.

TotalEnergies’ Carville unit produces roughly 1.3 billion pounds per year of styrene, while Olin’s Plaquemine plant produces about 143 million pounds per year of perchloroethylene, which also is called tetrachloroethylene. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Carville and Plaquemine projects.

Outside the Gulf Coast, two companies are tending to formaldehyde-based chemical units: Bakelite Synthetics Group (Atlanta, Georgia), which produces about 160 million pounds per year of formaldehyde resins at its plant in Riegelwood, North Carolina, and The Champion Company (Springfield, Ohio), which produces formaldehyde-based chemicals for embalming fluids at its plant in Springfield, Ohio. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the projects in Riegelwood and Springfield.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project and Plant databases can click here for a full list of detailed reports for projects mentioned in this article, and click here for a full list of related plant profiles.

Subscribers can click here for a full list of reports for U.S.-based petrochemical-maintenance projects that are set to begin construction in the fourth quarter.