Dow plans to use more ethane to make plastics in USA

06-Dec-10

World number two chemical company -- Dow Chemical Co. plans to use more ethane to make plastics as per Bloomberg. The company is mulling formation of a venture to separate it from natural gas because of low US prices. Dow plans to increase cracking of ethane by 20-30% at ethylene plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast over the next two to three years, increasing its global use of ethane for making ethylene to as much as 65% from about 55%. “Ethane is an advantaged feedstock in the United States and we anticipate a favorable oil to gas ratio to continue,” Raja Zeidan, global business vice president for Dow Hydrocarbons, said in the statement. Dow, the world’s largest producer of ethylene and polyethylene plastics, said it is reviewing joint-venture options to build a natural-gas liquids fractionator, a plant that separates the components of natural gas, to secure supplies of ethane.