Midland, Michigan -- Dow Chemical Co. announced 14 Sept that SCG-DOW Group, a joint venture between Dow and the Siam Cement Group (SCG), together with Solvay Peroxythai Ltd, have commemorated what Dow calls "significant milestones" on investments related to the hydrogen-peroxide-to-propylene-oxide (HPPO) plant at the site.
The companies held a ceremony to lay a foundation stone at the Asia Industrial Estate (AIE) site near Map Ta Phut, Thailand, where the HPPO facility is being built.
Dow's statement said that SCG-DOW Group has procured all the necessary equipment and started initial construction on the world-scale propylene oxide (PO) plant, which has an anticipated start-up in the first half of 2011. Once complete, the facility will manufacture PO via HPPO technology jointly developed by Dow and BASF, and will have a nameplate capacity of 390 kilotonnes per annum.
The AIE site will also have a speciality elastomers plant; a hydrogen peroxide plant built as a joint venture between Dow and Solvay; and power utilities and infrastructure. Nearby, a new liquids cracker, also jointly owned by SCG and Dow, will come on stream in 2010.
Dow said the integrated Thailand plants "represent a significant increase of the asset base for Dow in Thailand and Dow's largest manufacturing investments in Asia Pacific," but did not give a figure for the investment.
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