Air Products and Chemicals Inc. has been selected to supply a hydrocarbon and nitrogen recovery system for a new polyethylene manufacturing plant to be owned by Chevron Phillips Chemical Company and Solvay Polymers Inc. The new polyethylene plant, to be located at the Chevron Phillips Chemical Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown, Texas, is expected to come on-stream in late 2002. Air Products’ proprietary technology will be able to recover nearly 100% of the hydrocarbon off-gas from Chevron Phillips Chemical’s slurry phase polyethylene process, and more than 97% of the high-purity nitrogen used in degassing, that can then be recycled back to the company’s operations. The exceptional recovery and re-use performance of Air Products’ installation eliminates the environmental emissions that are typically associated with flaring or burning plant off-gases. Air Products’ recovery units utilise partial condensation to recover hydrocarbons in polyolefin plants, and recycle nitrogen with a purity of greater than 99% for re-use in the plant.
