Chevron Phillips Chemical to Build New Propylene Unit at Cedar Bayou Facility

Chevron Phillips Chemical has announced plans to expand its propylene business with a final investment decision for a new C3 splitter unit. The unit’s location will be in Baytown, Texas, within the company’s Cedar Bayou facility. Its expected capacity is 1 billion lbs./year with targeted start up in 2023. The company chose S&B Engineers and Constructors to engineer, procure and build the project. Site construction activities will commence in January 2022. At its peak, the project anticipates supporting 350-plus new construction jobs.

The C3 splitter will convert a refinery grade mixture of propylene and propane into a high purity propylene product. Propylene is essential to the production of key building blocks for many household and industrial applications, including polypropylene, propylene oxide and acrylonitrile. These chemicals are also used in the production of plastics for several packaging applications and durable consumer products. Polypropylene is also central to the manufacturing of plastic parts for various industries including the automotive sector. 

“With global propylene demand on the rise, this project reinforces Chevron Phillips Chemical’s commitment to expand to meet our customers’ needs and remain a leading propylene supplier,” said Justine Smith, senior vice president of petrochemicals. 

Chevron Phillips Chemical currently operates C3 splitter units at its Cedar Bayou, Port Arthur and Sweeny, Clemens and Old Ocean facilities in Texas. The new unit will provide additional flexibility and production to meet anticipated demand from the company’s growing customer base, while establishing room for future growth. 

“Our company is thankful for the support of our customers, elected officials and local community. Baytown is already home to important assets for our company, and we look forward to becoming an even more important economic engine for the local economy, while expanding our business to meet global customer demand,” said Smith.