NEWS

Beaver County cracker plant more than 95% built as company prepares for operation

Chrissy Suttles
Beaver County Times
At night, the cracker plant lights up the Ohio River and surrounding industrial area.

POTTER TWP. — A Pennsylvania petrochemical plant years in the making will likely be online in a matter of months, with crews putting the finishing touches on Shell’s ethane cracker facility. 

Shell Chemicals on Monday confirmed the company’s multi-billion dollar Potter Township complex, long considered one of the largest construction projects in the nation, is now more than 95% complete. 

In the next two weeks, Beaver County crews will begin performing “air blows” in the site’s ethane cracking unit and “steam blows” in the polyethylene units. Similar to the steam blowing activities completed in June of last year, nearby residents can expect “low levels of noise” intermittently through the end of March as piping is cleaned for operation. 

Shell plant:Shell begins ‘steam blowing’ at Beaver County cracker plant

“2022 is an exciting and important year for our project,” Shell representatives said on Facebook. “...We will be operational later this year.”

Workers plan to follow local noise ordinances during the cleanliness checks, noting the activities “have been modeled to fall within permitted levels.”

More on Shell plant:Shell estimates 2022 Beaver County cracker plant completion

Cracker plant coming to Pa.:Beaver County ‘preparing for petrochemicals’ as Shell cracker plant nears completion

The company has yet to announce a firm opening date, but crews began start-up activities early last year around the time Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden announced the chemical plant will be “fully operational” in 2022.

In July, the project was considered 80% complete as staff commissioned the 250-megawatt natural gas and steam cogeneration facility and first exported power to the PJM electricity grid – a major milestone on the path to startup.

The Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex pictured next to I-376 and the Ohio River. Completion of the cracker plant is expected within 2022.

The plant, located along the Ohio River, will convert natural gas into ethylene, used in plastics manufacturing to make a range of products from automotive parts to food packaging.

Shell leadership first revealed plans to build on the former Horsehead Corp. zinc property a decade ago, hoping to take advantage of the region’s abundant natural gas while cutting transportation costs to the majority of the company’s customer base in the northeastern United States. Construction began in late 2017 after Shell secured $1.7 billion in Pennsylvania corporate tax credits. 

Chrissy Suttles covers business, energy and environment for the Beaver County Times and the USAToday Network. Contact her at csuttles@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ChrissySuttles.