Fina Inc., the Dallas affiliate of Petrofina SA of Brussels, Belgium, announced Jan. 9 it intends to make its Carville, La., polystyrene facility the largest single production site in the world for PS through debottlenecking and the addition of new capacity. Fina said it will increase production capacity on its three existing PS production lines in the first quarter of 1995 through debottlenecking. That will increase the plant's PS production capacity by 45 million pounds, or 6 percent, the company said.
The plant now produces 730 million pounds of PS a year.
Additionally, Fina said it will build a new, 250 million-pound production line dedicated to making crystal PS.
That line is to begin production in the third quarter of 1996 and will increase the plant's total production capacity to 1.03 billion pounds per year. Fina claims there is no larger PS production site in the world.
Scot Mitchell, product manager for PS for Fina, said the new crystal PS production line will allow his company to move into new markets.
Fina primarily produces impact grades of PS on its three production lines. Two are dedicated to impact grades, while the third has swing capacity and can be used to make crystal PS, Mitchell said.
With the new line, Fina will target more applications in food service, consumer electronics and general injection molding for its crystal PS resins, he said. Fina also will target applications for oriented PS products.
While Fina announced its plans for expanding PS production, Mitchell said he could not discuss how the company intends to furnish the new production line with styrene monomer. Fina shares ownership with GE Plastics of Pittsfield, Mass., in a 1.9 billion-pound-per-year styrene monomer facility at Carville.
