According to OGJ's October 10 report, Shell Appalachian Chemical Co., Ltd. has completed major equipment installations for its long-term planning of the grass-roots petrochemical plant. The plant is located along the Ohio River in the town of Porter, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Currently under construction. About 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
Shell said that the 2,000-ton, 87-meter-high quenching tower (the largest quenching tower in the Pennsylvania petrochemical plant) was put into use on October 7 and is now complete.
Since the main building of the facility in November 2017, Shell said it has safely built three of the reactors associated with the planned polyethylene (PE) unit, as well as cooling, fire and drainage systems. Approximately 15 miles of underground pipes were laid.
Shell's Appalachian petrochemical complex aims to supply ethylene and polyethylene from nearby low-cost Marcellus and Utica shale ethane, including ethane crackers, with an average ethylene capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons per year. Three polyethylene units with a total output of 1.6 million tons, as well as equipment for power and steam generation, storage, logistics, cooling water and water treatment, emergency alarms and offices.