Formosa Chemicals to use Stone & Webster technology at new Taiwan styrene plant

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Aug. 12 -- Formosa Chemicals & Fiber Corp. has selected the proprietary downstream ethylene technology of Stone & Webster Inc. for a grassroots ethylbenzene-styrene monomer facility it plans to build at Haifeng, Taiwan. The Taiwan facility will have an initial capacity of 600,000 tonnes/year of styrene monomer, making it among the largest single-train styrene plants in the world.

Stone & Webster—a subsidiary of Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge, La.,—will provide the technology through its recently acquired Badger Technologies unit that specializes in the development, licensing, and commercialization of petrochemical and petroleum refining-related technologies.

Formosa will use Mobil-Badger's EBMax ethylbenzene process integrated with the Fina-Badger styrene technology. This plant is the third Formosa ethylbenzene-styrene monomer plant to use the Badger technologies since 1987, Shaw said.