TPC prepares detailed butadiene plan

ERJ staff report (DS)

Houston, Texas -- TPC Group Inc. has approved funding for the next phase of engineering to produce on-purpose butadiene, targeting the restart of its second dehydrogenation asset at the Company's Houston plant, coupled with construction of a TPC Group OXO-DTM production unit.

These assets would produce butadiene for the North American marketplace in order to meet growing market demand and address the structural shortage of supply caused by the shift from heavier to lighter cracker feedslates.

This engineering phase is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2012. Normal butane, a natural gas liquid whose production volumes continue to increase as a result of US shale gas development, has been selected as the primary feedstock. Utilisation of the TPC Group OXO-DTM technology allows highly efficient on-purpose butadiene production, and is expected to yield up to 600 million pounds per year of product with this project and to have the capability to expand as needed through additional phases as the market grows.

TPC Group Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Michael Bloesch, said, "We have a 50 year history of commercial production of on-purpose butadiene and are well positioned to bring the needed additional butadiene to the marketplace. Customers have expressed a strong interest for this project, which provides long-term security of supply of a critical product to meet their growing business needs."

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Press release from TPC Group