Oxea: Successful Start-up of New Propanol Production Unit in Bay City, Texas

Oxea has successfully started up its new 100,000 mt per annum world-scale production unit “Propanol 2” at its Bay City, Texas site. The now fully operational, state-of-the-art unit will increase Oxea’s North American production capacity for n‑propanol by 75 percent, the company said. Construction and commissioning of the new unit were completed incident-free, ahead of schedule and under budget. Oxea has used its proprietary process technology and process expertise to optimize production and improve product yield at Propanol 2. The first specification grade batches of material from the new unit have already been shipped to customers.
 
“Propanol 2 demonstrated both quality and capacity deliverables sooner than expected and is now fully integrated into existing operations. The successful start-up was the result of excellent teamwork between the project team, operations, engineering, and contractors. Leveraging Oxea’s knowledge as the world leader in propanol production, the new unit will be a foundation for on-going optimization and growth,” said Fred Gaytan, site director Bay City and Bishop. 
 
“Propanol 2 is a critical part of our selective growth strategy and a commitment to our Bay City production site. The new unit has been one of our largest investment projects in the past years. With its successful start-up, we achieved a major milestone on our roadmap and further strengthened our global production platform,” Oxea’s CEO Dr. Salim Al Huthaili added. “With the increased n‑propanol volume, we can now better serve the growing needs of existing and new customers worldwide. This particularly applies to Propyls from Oxea, a blend of n-propanol and n-propyl acetate. They are touted as a game changer for the rotogravure and flexographic printing industry because with our Propyls print shops can achieve higher print quality and produce more economically at the same time.”