According to the Houston Chronicle, the Houston petrochemical company LyondellBasell said it would move for with the MOST expensive project ever! This is a $2.4 billion plant near the Houston Ship Channel and will become the largest factory of its kind IN THE WORLD!
This project will create 2,500 construction jobs and 160 permanent positions at the plant! This project represents a continuation of the petrochemical boom along the Gulf Coast fueled by cheap and ample natural gas liquids and supported b access to foreign markets through the growing export terminals at the Port of Houston and other Texas ports.
The new LyondellBasell plant will make propylene oxide, which is used to make bedding, carpeting, coatings, building materials and adhesives, and the by-product tertiary butyl alcohol, which is refined into an additive that makes fuels burn cleaner. The plant will have the biggest production capacity in the world for these chemicals, capable of manufacturing 1 billion pounds of propylene oxide and 2.2 billion pounds of tertiary butyl alcohol a year.
As part of the project, the company will build a plant to refine tertiary butyl alcohol into fuel additives. Construction on the project is slated to begin next year, with completion scheduled for 2021.