MOSCOW (MRC) -- Sasol announced that the LCCP Ethane Cracker is increasing production rates following the successful replacement of the acetylene reactor catalyst, reported Kemicalinfo.
Sasol’s Ethane Cracker achieved beneficial operation in August 2019 but has run approximately 50-60% of nameplate capacity due to underperformance of the plant’s acetylene removal system. The company stated that the issue has now been resolved.
"The outage to replace the catalyst was successfully completed on schedule and within budget. Following the outage, the unit was started up smoothly and ethylene production rates are approximately 85-90% of nameplate capacity and are increasing," the company said in a statement.
Sasol said that the ethylene quality produced meets US Gulf Coast ethylene pipeline specifications.
The company is also looking forward to the completion of the LCCP Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) Unit which is being commissioned with beneficial operation expected later in December 2019.
The remaining three downstream units under construction to complete the integrated LCCP site, Ziegler Alcohols and Alumina, Alcohol Ethoxylates, and Guerbet Alcohols, remain on cost and schedule as per company’s previous guidance.
As MRC informed previously, Sasol's world-scale US ethane cracker reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. The company's new cracker, the heart of our Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to our six new derivative units at our Lake Charles multi-asset site. Sasol’s Lake Charles Ethane Cracker, which uses Technip Stone & Webster technology, is one of the largest in the world with a nameplate capacity of 1.54 million tons per year. Approximately 90% of the Cracker's ethylene output will be further processed into commodity and high-margin specialty chemicals for markets in which Sasol has a strong position, underpinned by collaborative customer relationships.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,724,670 tonnes in the first ten months of 2019, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market in January-October 2019 totalled 1,066,520 tonnes, up by 7% year on year. Supply of block copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymer) and homopolymer of propylene (homopolymer PP) increased, demand for statistical copolymers (PP random copolymer) decreased.
Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 31 270 people working in 32 countries. The company develops and commercialises technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, petrochemicals and low-carbon electricity.
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