Enterprise Products Partners announced that it has planned for polymer grade propylene (PGP) fractionation facility expansion at Mont Belvieu, Texas.
The expansion will add nearly 7,500 barrels per day or 500 million pounds of PGP annually. This will increase the company’s total PGP production capacity by over 10% from 73,000 barrels per day to approximately 80,500 barrels per day. The operation of the expanded Mont Belvieu facility is expected to commence in the Q1 of 2013.
PGP is roughly 99.5% pure propylene that is used in coatings, plastic consumer products, detergents, solvents and pharmaceuticals. Enterprise breaks down refinery grade propylene to produce PGP.
The demand for PGP has shown a 20% increase since 2000. But the supply of PGP created as a co-product through cracking of crude oil derivatives in ethylene production has decreased by nearly 40%. This reduction benefits ethylene manufacturers utilizing Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) such as propane and butane.
The price difference between crude oil and natural gas drives the ethylene industry to move to NGL feedstocks. This has resulted in major decline in the production of propylene at petrochemical facilities in North America.
The increased availability of refinery grade propylene also supports the Enterprise’s expansion project. The company is discussing with several petrochemical companies to buy the additional PGP production related to the expansion.