Lyondell Chemical Company has started production at its new 1,4-butanediol (BDO) manufacturing plant in Botlek, Rotterdam. The plant has an annual capacity of 280 million pounds, making it the largest BDO manufacturing facility in the world. BDO is used in various products, including thermoplastic polyesters and urethane elastomers. The new plant allows Lyondell to become the leading merchant supplier of BDO globally and enables the company to serve customers in Europe, Asia, and North America. The plant will also produce MPDiol glycol and allyl alcohol, as well as other derivative products.
HOUSTON -- 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).