Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. plans to add more than 20 million pounds of capacity for low-viscosity polyalphaolefin (PAO) fluids at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas.
The expansion will help the firm, based in The Woodlands, Texas, meet increasing customer demand for sustainable products, PAO global business manager Miles Oberton said in a Nov. 4 news release.
Chevron Phillips also has filed notifications for the project with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. A request for final approval for the project would be filed in the second quarter of 2015, with project completion targeted for 2016.
At Cedar Bayou, Chevron Phillips currently has annual capacity of about 100 million pounds of PAO. The firm recently began construction of a 220 million-pound capacity normal alpha olefin (NAO) expansion there. NAO materials are used as a feedstock for PAO.
PAO materials made by Chevron Phillips are sold under the Synfluid brand name. They're used in many automotive and industrial applications, including gear oils, greases and lubricants.