NPE ’18: Shell’s US Pennsylvania petrochemical project under construction

ORLANDO (ICIS)–Shell Chemical is continuing construction at its greenfield petrochemical investment in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, said Michaell Marr, business integration lead, on the sidelines of the National Plastics Exposition (NPE) on Tuesday. The site was graded at the end of last year, and vertical foundations for the cracker facility are currently being put into place, Marr said.

“It’s a self-contained site,” he said. “By that I mean we straddle the ethane supply, pulling from the Marcellus shale deposit.”

Shell’s new 386 acre (156 ha) complex will include a cracker with an ethylene capacity of 1.5m tonnes/year and a polyethylene (PE) facility with a capacity of 1.6m tonnes/year. The complex is expected to start-up in the 2020s.

Shell’s PE plant will produce high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and will utilise both gas phase and slurry bed technologies.

The facility will also include a power co-generation plant, which will provide power for the plant as well as enable Shell to be a merchant exporter.

“It is a significant sustainability play when you have a co-gen plant on site,” Marr said. “It’s going to generate more power than we need ourselves.”

Approximately one-third of power generated at the site is slated for sale to the market, Marr added.

The facility will utilise natural gas liquid (NGL) feedstocks from the nearby Marcellus and Utica shale beds to feed its cracker.

Sponsored by the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), NPE2018: The Plastics Show takes place on 7-11 May in Orlando, Florida.

Additional reporting by David Haydon