Enterprise Products Partners expects better performance from its propane dehydrogenation (PDH) units in Mont Belvieu, TX, this year after both undergo repairs. The 1.65 B lb/yr facilities have had repeated ups and downs since they started up in April 2018 and July 2023, respectively, and the company says deficiencies are being addressed.
Featured Articles
- Blog
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around - On-Purpose Propylene Doesn't Come Easy
Fast-rising NGL supplies during the early years of the Shale Era fueled excitement about the potential for new petrochemical plants in the U.S., especially ethane-only crackers to make ethylene and other byproducts, along with propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants to make propylene. While 11 new ethane-fed crackers have come online in the U.S. since the mid-2010s and the world’s largest — Chevron Phillips Chemical and QatarEnergy’s 4.8-billion-lb/year facility — is under construction in Texas, only three of the many PDH projects proposed over the same period were actually built. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at why the initial rush of new PDH project announcements resulted in so few new U.S. plants.
- Analyst Insight
U.S. Propylene Margins Under Pressure; Enterprise PDH-2 Start-Up Looms
U.S. PDH propylene margins peaked at 49 c/lb in early March as polymer grade propylene prices (PGP) soared to over 70 c/lb. PGP prices have since crashed to around 30 c/lb pulling PDH plant margins down to only 14 c/lb.
- Blog
Son of a PDH Man? – Six New North American Propylene Plants On The Way
Between 2015 and 2018 five new U.S. propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plants are expected online – producing over 9 billion pounds a year of propylene. Williams are building another new PDH plant in western Canada. Five of these plants will be located on the Texas Gulf Coast – the center of the world’s chemical industry. Once they are up and running they should have a profound impact on U.S. and international markets for propane and propylene. Today we describe plans to develop these new plants.
