W.R. Grace & Co. (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.com) has announced that it will provide its Unipol PP process technology and services to Braskem America’s newest planned facility in La Porte, Tex., which could begin operations in early 2019.
Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins in the Americas and the leading producer of PP in the United States, with five existing U.S. production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as well as an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh.
Braskem’s La Porte facility is designed to produce 450,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) per year of homopolymer, random copolymers, and impact copolymers in a single reactor line. This is the fifth Unipol PP reactor line for Braskem, joining existing facilities at Marcus Hook, PA (two reactor lines); Seadrift, TX; and Wesseling, Germany.
Mark Nikolich, CEO of Braskem America, said, “The focus for our new PP plant is to meet the growing PP market demand with the most economical investment and with broad product capability. We are glad to work with Grace to meet our business objectives using the UNIPOL® PP technology.”
Al Beninati, President of Grace’s Specialty Catalysts business segment, said, “Grace is thrilled to be the technology of choice for Braskem’s new PP plant in La Porte. Given the objectives for this new facility, we are confident that the Unipol PP process technology will provide the most cost effective solution for Braskem’s production needs.”