Texas-based Westlake Chemical Corporation is set to increase the capacity of a previously announced chlor-alkali plant to be located at its vinyls manufacturing complex in Geismar, Louisiana, the company said Wednesday.
The company will increase the chlor-alkali capacity of the unit by 100,000 electrochemical units (ECUs)/year. Westlake had originally estimated production capacity of the unit at 250,000 ECUs/year however will now be designed to produce 350,000 ECUs/year. The company said that the move would be in line with the vertical integration strategy of its vinyls business and will allow for the expansion and optimization of the vinyls chain over time.
Westlake has estimated the construction costs of the new chlor-alkali plant, which is expected to come online in H2 2013, in a range of $370 to $420 million. The company said that the unit will utilize state of the art membrane technology and will create approximately 100 permanent positions and 400 to 500 construction jobs.
The plant will be located adjacent to the existing VCM and PVC production facilities at Geismar.
