LACC hosts opening ceremony for US cracker, EG plant in Louisiana

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (ICIS)–The Westlake Chemical and Lotte Chemical joint venture, known as LACC, hosted a grand opening ceremony on Thursday for its US ethane cracker and ethylene glycols (EG) plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The project broke ground in June 2016, and construction cost $3.1bn. It was completed on time and on budget.

South Korea prime minister Lee Nak-yon speaking at LACC’s grand opening ceremony of its ethane cracker and ethylene glycols (EG) plant in Louisiana. (Photo by Tarun Raizada)

The 1m tonne/year cracker will be Westlake’s fourth one in the US. It is completed and ready to start up. Ethylene from the cracker is expected to support Lotte’s EG plant.

The 700,000 tonne/year EG plant was completed four months ago and started operating shortly thereafter. Material produced from this plant has already been shipped abroad.

The project will create 250 new direct jobs and 2,300 new indirect jobs.

It represents one of the largest investments made by a South Korean company in the US.

Numerous guests from the US and South Korea attended the event, including South Korea prime minister Lee Nak-yon and Louisiana state governor John Bel Edwards.

It was also announced at the event that Lotte Chemical is moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Lake Charles.

Ethylene is a key petrochemical feedstock, used to make polyethylene (PE), EG and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) among other products.

EG is an intermediate in the production of polyester fibres and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle resins, and as an automotive antifreeze.