Dow aims to complete Texas cracker expansion in Q1 2020

NEW YORK (ICIS)–US-based Dow plans to complete an expansion of its cracker in Orange, Texas, in the first quarter of 2020, a company official said on Tuesday.

Current ethylene capacity at the cracker is 700,000 tonnes/year, the official noted.

The Orange cracker came from DuPont in the 2017 merger between Dow and DuPont, before the separation of the new Dow and new DuPont, along with agricultural products company Corteva in 2019.

In June 2017, engineering and construction firm CB&I announced it won a $40m contract for work on an ethane cracking furnace expansion at DuPont’s Orange cracker. The expansion was slated for 200m lb/year (91,000 tonnes/year) of ethylene.

The Dow official would not confirm the capacity of the expansion or provide a figure for the expansion.

Also at the Orange, Texas, site, Dow is working on the Sabine ethylene co-polymers expansion which would be implemented in phases starting in the first half of 2020 with undisclosed capacities, the company stated on its Q3 2019 earnings conference call.