Shell Chemical Appalachia completed installation of major equipment at its long-planned grassroots petrochemical complex currently under construction along the Ohio River in Potter Township, Beaver County, Pa. Photo from Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
Designed to produce ethylene and PE from nearby supplies of low-cost Marcellus and Utica shale ethane, Shell’s Appalachian petrochemical complex will include an ethane cracker with an average ethylene production capacity of about 1.5 million tonnes/year, three PE units with a combined production of 1.6 million tpy, as well as associated installations for power and steam generation, storage, logistics, cooling water and water treatment, emergency flare, and offices (OGJ Online, June 7, 2016).
Two of the complex’s PE units will manufacture high-density PE grades of pellets, while a third PE unit will produce linear low-density polyethylene pellets, the operator said.
The company also is currently building a 274-m cooling tower, rail and truck-loading facilities, a water treatment plant, an office building, and a laboratory at the site.
Shell said the complex remains on schedule to begin commercial production early in the next decade.
