Sasol Builds Co-monomers Plant at Lake Charles

摘要

Sasol says it will build the world's first commercial ethylene tetramerization unit designed to produce more than 100,000 m.t./year of combined octene-1 and hexene-1 co-monomers at its Lake Charles, LA complex. The unit will use Sasol's proprietary technology converting ethylene to octene-1 and hexene-1. Construction is scheduled to begin next year with full operation scheduled by mid 2013. Sasol, with current productionof more than 350,000 m.t./year, is a major producer of co-monomer range alpha olefins. "The additional capacity to be built at Lake Charles will help Sasol's global customer base achieve its long-term polymer and elastomer growth prospects, and the investment reflects our confidence in the competitiveness of the U.S. petrochemicals industry," says André de Ruyter, senior group executive/operations. Octene-1 and hexene-1 are used as co-monomers in the production of linear low-density polyethyleneand high-density polyethylene as well as elastomers. The products give special characteristics of elasticity and strength in plastics used in consumer products such as food packaging, bags, toys, automotive interiors, power cable coatings, and others.