LyondellBasell pushes US PO/TBA project start-up to Q1 2023

HOUSTON (ICIS)–LyondellBasell has pushed the start-up of its propylene oxide (PO) and tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) project towards the end of the first quarter of 2023, the company said on Friday.

The company had expected to start up the project in December 2022.

LyondellBasell has nearly completed construction of the project, said Torkel Rhenman, executive vice president, intermediates and derivatives, and refining. He made his comments during an earnings conference call.

The project has two parts. The PO/TBA plant is in Channelview, Texas, and will produce 2.2bn lb/year (1m tonnes/year) of TBA and 1bn lb/year of PO.

The project also includes an ethers unit that LyondellBasell is building at its Bayport complex in Texas. That unit can produce ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), a high-octane gasoline component that is made from ethanol and isobutane.

LyondellBasell had mechanically completed the ethers unit, and it has started commissioning the plant, Rhenman said.

Commissioning for the PO/TBA plant will start in the fourth quarter of 2022, he added.

The integrated complex will start up in the first quarter of 2023.

The ramp-up will not provide a full year of production, he said.

For the first full year of operations, LyondellBasell expects to produce 50% of the annualised capacity of the plant.

PO is used to make polyols for polyurethanes (PUs).

For ETBE, LyondellBasell expects to have a cost advantage in obtaining isobutane because the US produces so much of it from its shale reserves.

Because ETBE is made with ethanol, refiners outside of the US can use it to meet their governments’ renewable fuel and carbon-emission mandates.

ETBE lacks the blending limits of ethanol, so refiners can freely add it to meet their fuels’ specifications.

Because of that flexibility, most countries rely on a combination of ethanol and ETBE blending to meet government mandates.

(adds details about timing of project startup, paragraph 1)

Thumbnail image shows PUs, which are made with polyols produced from PO. Image by Shutterstock