Celanese Corp. plans to initiate the reconfiguration of its global acetic acid production network through multiple value- creation steps.
Celanese recently announced the planned acquisition of the carbon monoxide production unit from Linde PLC, located at the company's Clear Lake, Texas, site. This acquisition increases Celanese's available raw material supply and further enhances the company's integration position and supports unparalleled operational flexibility.
In addition, Celanese plans to expand its Clear Lake acetic acid facility from 1.3 million tons per annum to approximately 2 million tons per annum by late 2021. This project delivers unique network rate flexibility, improved cost structure of the global acetic acid product portfolio and a platform easily expandable by an additional 600 kilotons per annum.
The expansion will facilitate productivity options within its global acetic acid network in both Singapore and Nanjing, China, leading to approximately 600 kilotons per annum of production rationalization and limited net change in total system tonnage.
These projects will generate approximately $100 million of productivity and efficiency benefits across the platform as completed.
"By reconfiguring our global production capabilities through these capital-efficient, value-creation steps, Celanese will have a more optimized production network supporting our customer base," said Todd Elliott, Celanese senior vice president, Acetyls. "Furthermore, this strengthening of our position in Clear Lake supports the recently completed VAM [vinyl acetate monomer] expansion."
For more information, visit www.celanese.com.
