East Texas ethylene plant to add cracking capacity

May 3, 2012
Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., is adding a furnace to one of its three olefin crackers at its plant in Longview, Tex.

Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., is adding a furnace to one of its three olefin crackers at its plant in Longview, Tex.

Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge, has received a contract to provide its technology and engineering services for a new Ultra Selective Conversion furnace. It will also procure the equipment for the furnace.

A spokeswoman for Eastman told OGJ “this additional furnace will increase our capacity, but we are not disclosing the amount of additional capacity or which cracking unit at this time.”

In December 2010, Eastman Chemical announced the restart of a previously idled cracking unit at Longview. That increased Eastman’s olefin capacity by about 215,000 tonnes and brought to three the company’s number of active cracking units.

Eastman’s cracking units, said the announcement at the time, produce propylene and ethylene used to make olefin derivatives. That announcement similarly did not disclose the plant’s total cracking capacity.

Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].