Elliott compressors to power Dow ethylene plant in Texas

Elliott Group will supply the main compression equipment for Dow Chemical Company’s world-scale cracker to be built in Freeport, TX.  Known as LHC-9, the plant will take advantage of shale gas-based ethane feed stocks. When Dow’s new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) facility comes online in 2015, the plant is expected to be one of the largest single-train PDH units in North America.  

(The four Elliott equipment strings include reactor effluent compressors, a propylene compressor and a heat pump)

The compressor designs will be based upon Elliott’s proven Edge technology and designed to API-617 specifications. The strings will be driven by the company’s efficient, highly reliable steam turbines. The four Elliott equipment strings include 1st and 2nd stage reactor effluent compressors, a propylene compressor and a heat pump. Elliott’s expertise in side load technology is particularly valuable in these applications.

Brook Tolman, Elliott’s Global Director, Engineered Products, said the company has already set the benchmarks for compression designs and power in olefins processing. “We are committed to maintaining this leadership position through investment in advanced engineering and manufacturing. We will draw upon the capabilities of both of our manufacturing facilities, in Sodegaura, Japan and in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, to produce the four large compressor trains for Dow.”

Dow’s Freeport facility will be dedicated to the “on-purpose” production of propylene, using propane as the feedstock. Much of the propylene produced in the United States today is a by-product of the naphtha cracking or fluid catalytic cracking processes in refineries.