Celanese Corporation, a global chemical and specialty materials company, has recently announced plans to significantly expand methanol production capacity at the company’s Clear Lake acetyl intermediates manufacturing facility located in Pasadena, Texas.
Celanese has recently been granted approvals from the Fairway Methanol LLC board of directors for a second phase expansion, which will increase production to 1.7 million metric tons per year (MMTPA) – approximately 125% of the original nameplate capacity – to be implemented as soon as operationally feasible and pending customary regulatory and permitting approvals.
In parallel with this expansion, Celanese and Mitsui will evaluate additional cost-effective expansion options for the Clear Lake methanol unit.
The Clear Lake methanol unit was commissioned in October of 2015 as a joint venture between Celanese and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan, with an annual capacity of 1.3 MMT. The unit utilizes abundant, low-cost natural gas in the U.S. Gulf Coast region as a feedstock. The joint venture operates as Fairway Methanol LLC, with both Celanese and Mitsui maintaining a 50/50 ownership.
