LACC, LLC

LACC, LLC (“LACC”) makes ethylene from its feedstock of ethane. The vision for LACC began when Lotte Chemical USA Corporation (“LC USA”) and Axiall Corporation (“AXIALL”) decided to form a joint venture. In late 2016, Westlake Chemical purchased Axiall. At the time Axiall owned 10% of LACC and today LC USA and Westlake have a true partnership with LACC being a 50/50 joint venture.

Facility in construction

The ethylene produced by LACC goes to Westlake and LC USA for use as the feedstock for other products. Each year, LACC produces approximately two (2) billion pounds of ethylene. Ethylene is a colorless, odorless gas and is the most widely used organic building block compound in the chemical industry.

Ethylene is one of the most important petrochemical intermediates produced today. As a feedstock to many products used in everyday life, one should consider ethylene as one of the basics to our modern society and way of life.

image of water bottles in production

End products made with ethylene include, but are not limited to, food packaging, film, toys, food containers, bottles, pipes, antifreeze, carpets, insulation, make up, and housewares. Chemicals that are made from ethylene in order to produce these end products are mono-ethylene glycol, polyethylene, ethylene dichloride, ethylene oxide, ethylbenzene, and vinyl acetate, just to name a few.

Producing ethylene requires a lot of energy. With the LACC plant, we considered and built in energy efficient processes such as heat recovery and well-designed steam systems to ensure we attain higher efficiency and lower costs in our production process. We continue to look for additional opportunities for energy efficiencies including using renewable energy sources.