TotalEnergies and Borealis has announced the official start-up of their Baystar joint venture’s new 625,000 metric ton-per-year Borstar polyethylene unit.
The new USD 1.4 billion unit completes the partners’ integrated petrochemicals venture, which includes the expanded Bayport PE facility, and the ethane cracker at the TotalEnergies Platform in Port Arthur, Texas.
This new PE unit, referred to as Bay 3 contributes to the Baystar site’s total production exceeding one million tons annually, which includes two legacy polyethylene production units per year. Bay 3 features the state-of-the-art proprietary Borstar® 3G technology licensed in North America for the first time.
Borstar technology is renowned for delivering advanced value-added polymers with enhanced sustainability by enabling light-weighting and the incorporation of greater amounts of post-consumer recycled materials in various end products, serving the energy, infrastructure and consumer products industries.
“After the inauguration of the ethane cracker unit in Port Arthur last year, the start-up of the new PE unit is the second milestone of this joint venture aimed at establishing Baystar as a fully integrated U.S. petrochemical player. The fruition of this venture also advances TotalEnergies ambition to grow in the United States,” commented Bernard Pinatel, President, Refining & Chemicals, TotalEnergies.
“The arrival of Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology in North America by way of Baystar marks, in line with our owners’ strategies, a crucial step for us in becoming a global leader in advanced and sustainable chemicals and material solutions,” explains Borealis CEO, Thomas Gangl. “Expanding and deepening our footprint through Baystar enables us to better serve customers and partners by offering improved access to Borstar based products produced right here in North America.”
