SCG Dow, Thailand

During June 2008, SCG-Dow Group, a joint venture between Dow Chemical Company and The Siam Cement Group (SCG) announced that it had broken ground on a 390,000tpa propylene oxide (PO) plant.

The facility is being built within the Asia Industrial Estates (AIE) near Map Ta Phut, Thailand. The facility is due to become operational in 2011.

Propylene oxide is used as a chemical intermediate in the production of materials including polyurethanes, propylene glycol and glycol ethers.

The cost of the new plant is put at Baht 3,000m ($91m).

Process technology

The PO will be produced using a process that converts hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide, the HPPO technology. This process was developed by Dow and BASF.

Benefits of HPPO process

PO plants based on the HPPO process are said to be more economical, require 25% less capital to build and requires simple raw material integration, using just propylene and hydrogen peroxide. The process is also said to bring environmental improvements.

Supply of hydrogen peroxide feedstock

The hydrogen peroxide required as a feedstock for the PO unit will come from a 330,000tpa plant which is being built in Thailand. The facility is being built by a joint venture between Dow and Solvay.

It is said that when the hydrogen peroxide plant comes on stream in 2010 it will be largest facility of its kind in the world. The hydrogen peroxide plant will be based on Solvay's process technology.

Supply of propylene feedstock

Propylene for the propylene oxide facility will be sourced from a joint venture cracker being built by SCG-DOW in Thailand. The cracker is due to become operational in 2010.

Background

SCG-DOW Group is a joint venture established in 1987. The group is comprised of four joint venture companies that supply markets across Asia Pacific with a range of products including styrene monomer, styrene-butadiene latex and polyethylene.