World’s largest bleach plant

Dow Chemical has announced a joint venture with Solvay to construct the world’s largest hydrogen peroxide (HP) plant in Thailand.

The HP plant will have a capacity of more than 300 kilotonnes per annum (KTA) with a concentration of 100 per cent, and will serve as a source of raw material for the production of propylene oxide (PO).

Dow is also negotiating with BASF to construct a second 390KTA PO manufacturing plant in Map Ta Phut, Thailand. The new plant would use the hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology that Dow and BASF jointly developed. The first 300KTA HPPO plant is being built in Antwerp, Belgium, and is scheduled to enter operation in early 2008.

According to Dow, HPPO technology reduces wastewater and increases energy efficiency.

The Thai HPPO plant will be supplied with propylene from the liquids cracker factory that Dow is building with The Siam Cement Group.

The HP and HPPO plants in Thailand are scheduled to begin operating by 2010.

PO is used to produce propylene glycol, polyurethanes and glycol ethers.