Operations Begin at World's Largest BDO Plant
HOUSTON, Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lyondell Chemical Company's (NYSE: LYO) new, world-scale 1,4-butanediol (BDO) manufacturing plant has begun production in Botlek, Rotterdam, in The Netherlands.
BDO is a key intermediate chemical, which is used in a variety of products.??Among them are thermoplastic polyesters for the automotive, electrical and appliance industries and urethane elastomers for automotive trim and non-automotive products such as footwear, electrical enclosures, recreation equipment, appliances and furniture.
With a rated annual capacity of 280 million pounds (126 kt), Lyondell's new plant in Botlek is the largest BDO manufacturing facility in the world. It is Lyondell's second BDO plant, and its first on the European continent. Lyondell's first BDO plant, in Channelview, Texas, began operation in 1990 and produces approximately 120 million pounds (55 kt) of BDO per year.
The new European plant makes Lyondell the world's leading merchant supplier of BDO and enables the company to service customers in Europe, Asia and North America.
Located at the site of Lyondell's large propylene oxide (PO) complex at Botlek, the new BDO plant will use PO from the adjacent production facility as its primary feedstock.??Further, its access to the Port of Rotterdam gives the new BDO plant a strategic platform for export to the rest of the world.
In addition to BDO, the new plant will produce MPDiol? glycol and allyl alcohol.??MPDiol? glycol is a co-product of Lyondell's BDO process and is used in a variety of applications including saturated and unsaturated polyester resins and personal care applications.
Allyl alcohol (AA), an intermediate product of the BDO process, is used in producing optical lenses, silane curing agents and specialty polyols for silicone chemistry.??Lyondell also produces a unique family of allyl-based resinous polyols for performance coating and ink applications.??Lyondell's AA production unit is the first and only such unit in Europe.
In Europe Lyondell also supplies the AA/BDO derivative products gamma- butyrolactone (GBL), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), tetrahydrofuran (THF) and polytetramethylene glycol (PTMEG).
Lyondell Chemical Company, (www.lyondell.com ), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is the world's largest producer of propylene oxide (PO); the world's number three supplier of TDI (toluene diisocyanate); a leading producer of propylene glycol; a leading producer of other PO derivatives such as BDO (butanediol) and PGE (propylene glycol ether); and a producer of styrene monomer and MTBE as co-products of PO production.??Through its 70.5% interest in Equistar Chemicals, LP, Lyondell also is one of the largest producers of ethylene, propylene and polyethylene in North America and a leading producer of polypropylene, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, high value-added specialty polymers and polymeric powder.??Through its 58.75% interest in LYONDELL-CITGO Refining LP, Lyondell is one of the largest refiners in the United States, processing extra heavy Venezuelan crude oil to produce gasoline, low sulfur diesel and jet fuel.
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SOURCE??Lyondell Chemical Company
-0- 10/02/2002
/CONTACT:??media, Anne M. Knisely, +1-713-309-2643, or investors, Douglas J. Pike, +1-713-309-7141, both of Lyondell Chemical Company/
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(LYO)
CO:??Lyondell Chemical Company
ST:??Texas, Netherlands
IN:??CHM
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5166 10/02/2002 08:02 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
