ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing LLC, an affiliate of ExxonMobil Chemical Company, has signed an agreement to license its tubular process technology to Sasol North America for a new Louisiana-based low density polyethylene (LDPE) plant

The new 420 thousand tonnes per year plant, located in Lake Charles, is expected to be completed in late 2016.

Sasol Polymers, a division of Sasol Chemical Industries, also licensed the ExxonMobil Chemical tubular process for its LDPE plant in Sasolburg, South Africa, that opened in 2005.

According to Jennifer Dunphy, Vice President of ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing, LDPE producers are choosing their company’s tubular process technology for its broad grade-slate capabilities, high reactor uptime and lower total cost compared with commercial gas-phase reactors.

Sasol has used ExxonMobil Chemical’s technology in its LDPE plant in Sasolburg, hence it is using it again for the Lake Charles plant, said Mike Biesheuvel, Managing Director, Sasol Polymers International Investments, adding that, “The demonstrated performance of other ExxonMobil Chemical LDPE process licensees in plants with 400 thousand tonnes per year capacities was another important factor in our selection.”

ExxonMobil Chemical’s high-pressure tubular process has been in operation since 1968 and has a long history of improvements and capacity expansion. The company also licenses autoclave technology for producing LDPE.