ALTIVIA Petrochemicals Buys Chemical Ethoxylation Plant

Houston-based ALTIVIA Petrochemicals has purchased a chemical ethoxylation plant in Crosby, TX from specialty chemical producer KMCO, the company announced in a release Monday. The facility will be operated by an affiliated company ALTIVIA Oxide Chemicals LLC.

Located on a 160-acre site, the facility has 31 reaction and distillation trains for ethylene and propylene oxide reactions. The assets also have capacity for a variety of organic reactions like polymerization and condensation.

Once it takes possession of the Crosby plant, ALTIVIA will invest $25 million to upgrade process safety and control systems and add two new oxide reactors. The new reactors are slated to start operations by the end of 2020. 

“We have completed a detailed evaluation of these assets and are looking forward to starting production by year end. The reaction chemistries in Crosby are complementary to ALTIVIA’s current product offerings and will provide our customers important sourcing options,” the firm’s chief executive officer, J. Michael Jusbasche, said in a statement. “The market for oxylation tolling and custom manufacturing services will now have available a state-of-the-art facility in the US Gulf Coast.”

ALTIVA Petrochemicals is one of the largest producers of phenol, acetone, and alpha methylstyrene in the Americas. 

A fire and explosion at KMCO's Crosby plant in May 2019 left one person dead and several others with injuries, Powder & Bulk Solids reported. The company later said that the fire started after Isobutylene was released by a "sudden, acute failure in a piping component." 

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