Dow and Partners Advance Thai Plans

Dow Chemical and Solvay are joining forces to build a hydrogen peroxide plant in Thailand. Set to open in 2010, it would be the largest peroxide plant in the world, the firms say, and provide raw material for propylene oxide, a polyurethane intermediate now made by more complicated processes. The companies are building a propylene oxide plant that will use the new technology in Antwerp, Belgium, and have been in negotiations to build a similar one in Map Ta Phut, Thailand. With the new technology, hydrogen peroxide reacts with propylene to yield propylene oxide. In Thailand, the propylene would come from an ethylene cracker that Dow plans to build with Siam Cement.