Nova Chemicals plans to increase its ethylene production at its Corunna steam cracker and build a new polyethylene facility in the Sarnia-Lambton region of Ontario, the company said Friday.
The project includes expansion of the 816,466 mt/year Corunna steam cracker by 50%, which will provide ethylene feedstock to a new 450,000 mt/year polyethylene facility -- Nova's second Advanced SCLAIRTECH technology facility (AST2).
"Site preparations are currently underway for both projects, with start-up targeted for late 2021," Nova said in a statement.
Nova plans to invest more than CDN $2 billion -- the single largest business investment in the Sarnia-Lambton region, with the Province of Ontario contributing up to $100 million to the project, according to The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.
Nova is in the process of converting the Corunna cracker from utilizing 100% NGLs to utilizing 100% ethane as feedstock. The project is currently underway with a planned completion target for 2018, comapny spokesman Mark Horner said.
The Corunna capacity expansion is in addition to the feedstock conversion project.
