An ethene cracker in Port Arthur, Texas. A similar facility will be built in Ingleside near Corpus Christi. Cost is estimated at $1 billion. Courtesy Photo
A $1 billion chemical plant will soon be built in Ingleside as part of an expansion at OxyChem's existing facilities there. The ethane cracker is expected to produce about 1.2 billion pounds of ethylene per year. The ethylene will be used to produce PVC resin and piping systems at a plant in Mexico.
Speaking at a mid-December groundbreaking were officials from OxyChem and Texas General Land Commissioner-elect George P. Bush. Officials from Mexichem, in Tlalnepantla, Mexico, the company buying the ethylene, were also on hand. Those attending signed a steel beam that will be used in construction of the plant. Ethane is a component of natural gas.
The process that turns it into ethylene is called cracking. The ethane is heated to a temperature so hot that it breaks apart the molecular bonds holding it together, forming it into ethylene.
Crackers are very large facilities, which can cost as much as $5 billion to build. The majority of crackers are located along the Gulf Coast.
The most commonly produced petrochemical, ethylene is used to make beverage containers, food wraps, antifreeze, solvents and pharmaceuticals. Ethylene products touch almost every aspect of modern life.
