Bayport Polymers starts up new US Texas PE unit

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Bayport Polymers has announced the start-up of its new 625,000 tonnes/year swing polyethylene (PE) plant in Pasadena, Texas, according to a posting on the company’s website.

The new Bay 3 unit is the first of its kind in North America that will manufacture material using Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, while more than doubling the Bayport’s PE capacity at the Pasadena site, according to the announcement.

Work on the Bay 3 project began in 2019 and represents a total investment of $1.4bn. The company also became a fully integrated PE producer in 2022 with the completion of its 1m tonnes/year ethane cracker in Port Arthur, Texas.

“We have a product offering second to none, backed by a talented team of experts who came to Baystar to be part of something special,” said Commercial Director, Brad Leesman. “We’re big enough to introduce leading technologies, but small enough to be nimble and highly responsive on behalf of our customers. We look forward to surprising the industry with our new approach.”

Bayport Polymers is a joint venture between Borealis and TotalEnergies.

PE is the most widely used plastic in the world, primarily found in packaging including plastic bags, plastic films and geomembranes.

Major US producers of PE include Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem), Dow, LyondellBasell, ExxonMobil, Formosa, INEOS, Total Petrochemicals and Westlake.

Thumbnail shows the new PE plant. Image by Bayport Polymers.