Plants Dow Chemical

GM and Dow launched a joint project in 2004 for proving the viability of hydrogen fuel cells. In the first phase, a single GM test cell was connected to Dow s power distribution grid and also to Dow s hydrogen clean-up and pipeline system to generate electricity for the Dow chemical plant. Phase II expands the project from a single GM test cell to a multi-cell pilot plant at Dow s Texas Operations in Freeport, Texas. 

The Freeport, Texas, Dow Chemical Plant shared details of their pressure vessel management program several years ago. [19] The Dow Texas pressure vessel program had evolved over 25 years and covered about 12,000 pressure vessels. No doubt with today s PSM Mechanical Integrity element, Dows program has far exceeded the excellent efforts discussed here. 

The largest producers of chlorine in the United States are the Dow Chemical plant at Freeport, TX the Formosa Plastics plant at Point Comfort, TX the Occidental Chemical plant at Convent, LA the Olin plant at Augusta, GA the Oxy Vinyls plant at Deer Park, TX and the PPG Industries plant at Lake Charles, LA. 

In 1989 chlorine was produced by 25 companies at 52 locations in the United States (Table 4). Approximately half of these plants are located in the Southeast (Eig. 2). Two companies, Dow Chemical USA and Occidental Chemical Corporation, accounted for 54.3% of the total operating capacity the top five companies accounted for 77.5%. Although 0.8 million tons per year of chlorine capacity is presendy idle (Table 4), announced expansions are expected to bring an additional 660,000 t of new chlorine capacity onstream by 1992, increasing total capacity by about 6%/yr (Table 5). 

Countries produciug commodity LLDPE and their capacities, as well as production volumes of some U.S. companies, are Hsted iu Table 5. Iu most cases, an accurate estimate of the total LLDPE production capacity is compHcated by the fact that a large number of plants are used, iu turn, for the manufacture of either HDPE or LLDPE iu the same reactors. VLDPE and LLDPE resius with a uniform branching distribution were initially produced in the United States by Exxon Chemical Company and Dow Chemical Company. However, since several other companies around the world have also aimounced their entry into this market, the worldwide capacity of uniformly branched LLDPE resins in 1995 is expected to reach a million tons. Special grades of LLDPE resins with broad MWD are produced by Phillips Petroleum Co. under the trade name Low Density Linear Polyethylenes or LDLPE. 

Synthesis. The total aimual production of PO in the United States in 1993 was 1.77 biUion kg (57) and is expected to climb to 1.95 biUion kg with the addition of the Texaco plant (Table 1). There are two principal processes for producing PO, the chlorohydrin process favored by The Dow Chemical Company and indirect oxidation used by Arco and soon Texaco. Molybdenum catalysts are used commercially in indirect oxidation (58—61). Capacity data for PO production are shown in Table 1 (see Propylene oxide). 

Production of propylene oxide in the United States in 1993 was estimated at 1,240,000 metric tons, and as having a 10-yr average aimual growth rate of 3.9% (229). Projections were for continued growth at about 4%/yr. Producers include Dow Chemical s chlorohydrin plants in Ereeport, Texas, and Plaquemine, Louisiana, and ARCO Chemical s hydroperoxide plants in Bayport and Chaimelview, Texas. Texaco started up a 180,000-t/yr plant in Port... 

Production and Economic Aspects. Aspirin is produced in the United States by The Dow Chemical Company, Rhc ne-Poulenc, and Norwich (a division of Proctor Gamble). Globally, Rhc ne-Poulenc has additional production faciHties in France and in Thailand. Bayer is self-suppHed from production units in Spain and Turkey over the years many small plants have been estabHshed around the world for regional or country supply. The aspirin market is increasingly globally suppHed. Aspirin is generally considered mature, and only population increases and new uses will affect its production and demand, which is thought to be of the order of 30—35,000 t for total world consumption. The May 1995 price was 8.30/kg (18). 

These discoveries were followed by two key publications describing the work that marked the beginning of the commercial siUcone industry (18,19). Production increased rapidly with the need for siUcones in World War II. In 1943, the Dow Corning Corp. was formed in Midland, Michigan, as a joint venture between Corning Glass and Dow Chemical. In 1947 GE opened a plant in Waterford, New York, for manufacture of siUcones, and in 1949 Union Carbide opened a siUcone manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, New York. 

Aluminum Chloride-Based All lation. The eadier alkylation processes were variations of the Eriedel-Craft reaction on an aluminum chloride catalyst complex in a Hquid-phase reactor (27), including those developed by Dow Chemical, BASE, Monsanto, and Union Carbide in cooperation with Badger. The Union Carbide-Badger process was the one most widely used during the 1960s and 1970s, with 20 plants built worldwide. 

Benzaldehyde is produced ia the United States by Kalama Chemical Incorporated, Kalama, Washington and ia Canada by Chatterton Petrochemical Corporation, Delta, British Columbia. Both plants were constmcted by The Dow Chemical Company ia the early 1960s to produce phenol from benzoic acid and both produce benzaldehyde as a by-product of that process (6). Production and sales figures for benzaldehyde are not available. 

Ben2oic acid is almost exclusively manufactured by the cobalt cataly2ed Hquid-phase air oxidation of toluene [108-88-3]. Large-scale plants have been built for ben2oic acid to be used as an intermediate in the production of phenol (by Dow Chemical) and in the production of caprolactam (by Snia Viscosa) (6-11). 

The first large-scale commercial oxychlorination process for vinyl chloride was put on-stream in 1958 by The Dow Chemical Company. This plant, employing a fixed-tube reactor containing a catalyst of cupric chloride on an active carrier, produced 1,2-dichloroethane from ethylene. The high temperatures involved in the reaction were moderated by a suitable diluent. The average heat output from the reaction is 116 kJ/mol (50,000 Btu/lb mol). 

The Dow Chemical Company in the mid-1920s developed two processes which consumed large quantities of chlorobenzene. In one process, chlorobenzene was hydrolyzed with ammonium hydroxide in the presence of a copper catalyst to produce aniline [62-53-3J. This process was used for more than 30 years. The other process hydrolyzed chlorobenzene with sodium hydroxide under high temperature and pressure conditions (4,5) to product phenol [108-95-2]. The LG. Earbenwerke in Germany independentiy developed an equivalent process and plants were built in several European countries after World War II. The ICI plant in England operated until its dosing in 1965. 

The Texaco gasifier and a similar unit developed by The Dow Chemical Company are pressurized entrained gasifiers. At the top pulverized coal is mixed with reaction gas and is blown down into the gasifier. The reaction products leave from the side, and ash is blown down to a water pool where it is quenched. These units have operated at an Eastman Kodak facUity in Kingsport, Tennessee and at the Coolwater power station in California for an integrated combined cycle power plant. 

A similar design has been developed using a 161 MW plant by The Dow Chemical Company in its Plaquemine, Louisiana location. Destec, Inc. is a power subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company and has joined with PubHc Service Of Indiana to build a new 230 MW plant near Terre Haute, Indiana. Operation is projected for 1995 (95). 

Nonstirred ARC runs may give answers that do not adequately duphcate plant results when there are reactants that may settle out or that require mixing for the reaction to be carried out (DeHaven and Dietsche, The Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburgh, Calif., Catalyst Explosion A Case History, Plant (Operations Progress, April 1990). 

In 1930 BASF, then part of IG Farhen, installed a plant for producing 100 tonnes of polystyrene per annum and in 1933 the first injection moulded articles were produced. In the US semi-plant-scale work at the Dow Chemical Company showed promise of commercial success in 1934. As a consequence there became available shortly before World War II a material of particular interest because of its good electrical insulation characteristics hut otherwise considerably inferior to the polystyrene available today. Because of these excellent electrical characteristics prices were paid of the order of several dollars per pound for these polymers. 

In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy reported the production of Mg in the form of an amalgam by electrolytic reduction of its oxide using a Hg cathode. In 1828, the Fr scientist A. Bussy fused Mg chloride with metallic K and became the first to produce free metallic Mg. Michael Faraday, in 1833, was the first to produce free metallic Mg by electrolysis, using Mg chloride. For many years, however, the metal remained a laboratory curiosity. In 1886, manuf of Mg was undertaken on a production scale in Ger, using electrolysis of fused Mg chloride. Until 1915, Ger remained the sole producer of Mg. However, when a scarcity of Mg arose in the USA as a result of the Brit blockade of Ger in 1915, and the price of Mg soared from 1.65 to 5.00 per lb, three producers initiated operations and thus started a Mg industry in the USA. Subsequently, additional companies attempted production of Mg, but by 1920 only two producers remained — The Dow Chemical Co (one of the original three producers) and. the American Magnesium Corn. In 1927. the latter ceased production, and Dow continued to be the sole domestic producer until 1941. The source of Mg chloride was brine pumped from deep wells. In 1941, Dow put a plant into operation at Freeport, Texas, obtaining Mg chloride from sea-... 

Figure 13.6 HiGee technology for hypochlorous acid manufacturing at Dow Chemical. Three rotating packed beds shown in front offer the same production capacity as the conventional plant behind them. (Courtesy Dow Chemical.)...

The ability to control the polymer from the design of the catalyst, coupled with high catalytic efficiency has led to an explosion of commercial and academic interest in these catalysts. Exxon started up a 30 million lb/5rr ethylene copol3rmer demonstration plant in 1991 using a bis-cyclopentadienyl zirconium catalyst of structure 1. The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) began operating a 125 million Ib/yr ethylene/l-octene copolymer plant in 1993 and has since expanded production capacity to 375 million Ib/yr. This paper will focus on the structure / property relationships of the catalysts used by Dow to produce single-site ethylene a-olefin copolymers. 

More detailed check lists are given by Carson and Mumford (1988) and Wells (1980). Balemans (1974) gives a comprehensive list of guidelines for the safe design of chemical plant, drawn up in the form of a check list. A loss prevention check list is included in the Dow Fire and Explosion Index Hazard Classification Guide, Dow (1987). 

I wish to express my deep thanks to the Dow Chemical Company, particularly to my preceptors Dr. Harold Graves and James Scovic, and everyone in the Process Engineering Department. They were completely open with me, and showed me how chemical engineering plant design is done. Also, I would like to thank all those others at Dow who spent a lot of time educating me. 

An American Salt Company plant and the Dow Chemical Company s Midland plant also benefit directly from each other s presence. Dow found that after recovering bromine from brine it had more salt left than it desired. American Salt needed salt. By locating next to Dow s plant it was able to buy this salt stream for less than it would cost to mine it or pump it from natural underground reservoirs. In turn, Dow was able to sell an unwanted stream that it would otherwise have had to pump back into the ground. The American Salt plant is typical of many satellite plants. These are plants that either use a by-product or a waste stream from another plant or are built mainly to supply a needed chemical to an adjacent plant. The nearby presence of another plant determines their location. 

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