The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, MI, has announced that the SCG-Dow Group, a joint venture between Dow and The Siam Cement Group (SCG), has broken ground on a propylene oxide (PO) facility in Thailand. The world-scale plant, located within the Asia Industrial Estates (AIE) site near Map Ta Phut, will have a nameplate capacity of 390 kilotons per annum (KTA) of PO via the innovative hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology jointly developed by Dow and BASF. The PO plant, which will also include propylene glycol (PG) manufacturing, is expected to go online in 2011.

In July 2007, Dow and Solvay S.A. announced the formation of a joint venture to build a new hydrogen peroxide (HP) plant, which will serve as a raw material source for the new PO plant. Located within the AIE site, the new HP plant will be the largest in the world with a name plate capacity of more than 330 kilotons per annum (KTA) of HP at 100% concentration. The HP will be produced using Solvay’s proprietary, high-yield HP technology and will supply both the PO plant and Solvay’s regional subsidiary, Peroxythai Ltd., which will use the additional product to meet growing customer demand. Operations for the HP plant are scheduled to begin prior to the startup of the PO plant.

For more information, visit www.dowpolyurethanes.com.