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This plant will take ethane derived from the Marcellus and Utica shales and heat it, or “crack” it, into ethylene.
The ethane will be heated to temperatures greater than 1,500 degrees in one of the cracker’s seven furnaces.
The ethylene will then be put through a process involving intense pressure, after which a chemical reaction will take place. A cooling process will in turn produce polyethylene pellets, which will be used to make plastics.
Shell has said it will produce 1.6 million tons of polyethylene a year, while the plant itself will consume about 105,000 barrels of ethane a day.
The polyethylene pellets will be shipped to companies around the globe that will make plastic products including shopping bags, trash bags, diapers, food packaging and bottles.