(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TPC Group Inc. announced that its Board of Directors has approved funding for the next phase of engineering to produce on-purpose butadiene, targeting the restart of its second dehydrogenation asset at the Company's Houston plant, coupled with construction of a TPC Group OXO-DTM production unit.
These assets would produce butadiene for the North American marketplace in order to meet growing market demand and address the structural shortage of supply caused by the shift from heavier to lighter cracker feedslates. This engineering phase is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2012. Normal butane, a natural gas liquid whose production volumes continue to increase as a result of U.S. shale gas development, has been selected as the primary feedstock.
Utilization of the TPC Group OXO-DTM technology allows highly efficient on-purpose butadiene production, and is expected to yield up to 600 million pounds per year of product with this project and to have the capability to expand as needed through additional phases as the market grows.