Westlake Expanding PVC Production

Westlake Chemical will spend $90 million on polyvinyl chloride-related investments at its Calvert City, Ky., plant. The company is expanding chlorine and caustic soda production by more than 20% in a project that is set for completion in the second half of 2009. It will also boost PVC capacity by more than a third, bringing capacity at the plant to 1.1 billion lb by the first half of 2009. Westlake says the expansion will use vinyl chloride feedstock that is made at the site and currently sold on the merchant market. The company is also building a new large-diameter PVC pipe plant at the site.