ExxonMobil boosts Louisiana compounding

With an initial capacity of 40,000 tons of specialty compounded products, ExxonMobil Chemical (Houston) opened a new $20-million facility at its integrated Baton Rouge, LA site. Products intended for manufacture include Exxtral thermoplastic olefins and Santoprene thermoplastic compounds, with end markets and applications within interior, exterior, and under-the-hood automotive as well as appliances, packaging, personal care, construction, and electrical. The move supports ExxonMobil’s 2007 formation of a new specialty compounding business focused on engineered polyolefin compounds, including a new line intended for automotive use.

Within the U.S., ExxonMobil Chemical has 11 manufacturing sites spread through Louisiana, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, and Georgia. The company’s presence in Baton Rouge goes back to 1940, with the opening of its chemicals plant. In addition to its Plastics Plant, which was founded in 1968 and produces polyethylene (PE), PE copolymers, and Exact Plastomers, ExxonMobil operates a polyolefins plant in Baton Rouge, which it acquired from W.R. Grace & Co. in 1995.—[email protected]