MOSCOW (MRC) -- Braskem Idesa, a 75-25 joint venture between Braskem and Grupo Idesa, started polyethylene (PE) production at its Coatzacoalcos, Mexico complex on 6 April. The jv started injecting ethane at its Etileno XXI steam cracker on 18 March, said Chemweek.
“The startup is a big step for strengthening the business of Braskem and Idesa Group and the domestic petrochemical industry,” says said Roberto Bischoff, CEO of Braskem Idesa. “This is also clear evidence that major investments like this can be made in Mexico."
In addition to the cracker, the USD5.2-billion project includes two high-density PE lines with capacity for 350,000 m.t./year and 400,000 m.t./year based on Ineos technology and a 300,000-m.t./year low-density PE plant using the LyondellBasell Industries process. Pemex (Mexico City) is providing the ethane feedstock under 20-year supply agreement.
PE production will be increased gradually until reaching the maximum production of 1.05 million m.t./year. Braskem Idesa will supply polyethylene both to the Mexican and international markets. The jv estimates it will positively impact Mexico’s trade balance by approximately USD1.5 billion/year.
As MRC informed earlier, Braskem SA will soon decide whether to build a plant in Texas or Pennsylvania to convert low-cost natural gas into polypropylene. The factory would produce at least 1 billion pounds (450,000 metric tons) of resin a year and would be the U.S. polypropylene industry’s first world-scale project in about 12 years, said Mark Nikolich, a vice president at Braskem. Preliminary engineering is under way for construction at existing Braskem sites in either La Porte, Texas, or Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania.
Braskem S.A. produces petrochemicals and generates electricity. The Company produces ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, xylenes, butadiene, butene, isoprene, dicyclopentediene, MTBE, caprolactam, ammonium sulfate, cyclohexene, polyethylene theraphtalat, polyethylene, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
MRC