History

In 1951, research chemists Paul Hogan and Robert Banks were working to improve yields of high-octane gasoline when they serendipitously invented two of the world’s most essential plastics - polypropylene and high-density polyethylene. From that initial discovery, came the development of the first commercially feasible polymerization process.

Today, Chevron Phillips Chemical research and development teams continue to develop more cost-effective ways to manufacture polyethylene. In the past ten years, the company’s scientists and engineers have implemented more than 100 separate improvements which have led to increased space-time yield, improved economy-of-scale due to major increases in the maximum reactor size, and significant decreases in the amount of energy and feedstock consumption required per pound of polymer.  As a result, the capital cost of a Chevron Phillips Chemical loop slurry polyethylene plant has decreased up to 60 percent since 1990.