Dow Polyurethanes business unit plans capacity increases at European facilities.Dow Polyurethanes, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW TYO: 4850 ) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Overview The Dow Chemical Company is currently the second largest chemical manufacturer in the World (after BASF)[1]. , Midland, MI, has announced plans to expand the capacity at two of its European facilities over the next two years. The company intends to increase name-plate capacity at its polyols plant in Terneuzen, The Netherlands, by 180 kilotons per annum Per annum Yearly. (KTA KTA Kosovo Trust Agency KTA Kansas Turnpike Authority KTA Kill Them All (gaming clan) KTA Knitted Textile Association KTA Kentucky Telephone Association KTA Key Technical Area KTA Kepner-Tregoe Analysis ), and at its propylene glycol propylene glycol a chemical used industrially as an antifreeze, solvent stabilizer, as a preservative in liquid livestock feeds and pharmaceutically as a vehicle or solvent for medicinal preparations. (PG) facility in Stade, Germany, by 80 KTA. In September 2006, Dow announced plans to construct a joint Dow/BASF hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide (HPPO) facility at Antwerp, Belgium, scheduled for start-up in 2008. Dow also completed a 40 KTA expansion of its propylene oxide propylene oxide a gas used to disinfect animal feeds. (PO) name-plate capacity at its Stade facility in January of this year, bringing its total PO capacity at the plant to 630 KTA. PO is a key raw material used in the production of both propylene glycol and polyols. According to Pat Dawson, Dow Polyurethanes vice president, the investments are driven by strong customer demand for polyurethane and propylene glycol end-use products in the region, and support Dow's plans to further grow its Performance businesses. "Dow is committed to providing our customers with a reliable supply of PG and polyurethane raw materials, using the most economic and technologically advanced processes, as evidenced by our investment in the new HPPO facility at Antwerp," says Dawson. "Demand for downstream products that rely on PG and polyols is expected to remain strong." The European propylene glycol industry is growing at the rate of 3% per year on average, driven primarily by strong demand from end-use applications, including unsaturated polyester resins (UPR UPR Upper UPR University of Puerto Rico UPR Universal Periodic Review (UN Human Rights Council) UPR Unia Polityki Realnej (Polish political party) UPR unfolded protein response ), food, feed, cosmetics, antifreeze antifreeze, substance added to a solvent to lower its freezing point. The solution formed is called an antifreeze mixture. Antifreeze is typically added to water in the cooling system of an internal-combustion engine so that it may be cooled below the freezing point , and aircraft de-icing fluids. Growth for polyols, which are used in the manufacture of polyurethane systems formulations and rigid and flexible foams, is also healthy in Europe and is expected to grow at a rate of 5-6% per year on average due to a strong demand in the automotive, construction, and home furnishing industries. Upon the completion of the PG capacity increase at the Stade site, the Dow plant will be the world's largest PG facility. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion