MOSCOW (MRC) -- Formosa Petrochemical has received air pollution permits for a USD9.4 billion petrochemical and plastics complex the company has proposed building in St. James Parish, Louisiana, according to Kemicalinfo.
The company has received the final Title V operating permits needed from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
The complex would be built in two phases and produce ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycol and associated polymers, which are used to make products such as plastic bottles, grocery bags, drainage pipes, ropes, artificial turf, polyester clothing, antifreeze and playground equipment.
Formosa Petrochemical already operates a major petrochemicals and plastics site in Point Comfort, Texas.
In November 2019, a Louisiana community group asked a congressional committee to help block FG’s plans in St. James. The call for congressional involvement in the Formosa project came in testimony from Sharon Lavigne, founder of Rise St. James, during a Washington hearing of the House subcommittee on environment and climate change.
As MRC wrote previously, in November, 2013, Formosa Plastics was seeking United States permits for a USD2 billion expansion of its Texas operations as cheaper natural gas prices make US production more competitive. The company asked federal and state environmental regulators to approve plans for an ethane cracker unit and downstream derivatives.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,904,410 tonnes in the first eleven months of 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments increased from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,161,830 tonnes in January-November 2019, up by 7% year on year. Deliveries of all grades of propylene polymers increased, with the homopolymer PP segment accounting for the largest increase.
Formosa Petrochemical is involved primarily in the business of refining crude oil, selling refined petroleum products and producing and selling olefins (including ethylene, propylene, butadiene and BTX) from its naphtha cracking operations. Formosa Petrochemical is also the largest olefins producer in Taiwan and its olefins products are mostly sold to companies within the Formosa Group. Among the company's chemical products are paraxylene (PX), phenyl ethylene, acetone and pure terephthalic acid (PTA). The company"s plastic products include acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resins, polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP) and panlite (PC).
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