FREEPORT, TX The Dow Chemical Company announces the completion of the construction phase of its new ELITEâ„¢ enhanced polyethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas.

Completed on time, the 400,000-metric-ton polyethylene unit is the first of four new derivative investments currently under way at Dow's manufacturing sites in Texas and Louisiana as part of the company's previously announced $6 billion expansion on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The production unit now enters its commissioning and start-up phase in sequence with the mid-year start-up of Dow's 1.5-million-metric-ton world-scale ethylene facility. The plant is expected to ramp up during the third quarter and be fully operational in the fourth quarter. Designed with Dow's proprietary solution process technology, the unit will produce ELITEâ„¢ enhanced polyethylene resins, known for their versatility and high-performance attributes in multiple types of flexible packaging applications for food, personal hygiene products and industrial packaging.

Dow's other three derivative units along with a planned debottleneck are proceeding on schedule and are staged to come online throughout 2017 and 2018.

"¢ New specialty low density polyethylene for industrial and supply chain packaging applications (Capacity: 350 KTA), which is also expected to come online in coordination with the cracker;
"¢ Next Generation NORDELâ„¢ metallocene EPDM to deliver solutions for higher-margin applications for the transportation, infrastructure and consumer durables end-markets (Capacity: 200 KTA), expected to startup in early 2018;
"¢ Bi-modal gas phase de-bottleneck to enable more offerings for high-performance pipe and fitting applications, as well as the cap and closure market (125 KTA), to follow later in 2018;
"¢ High Melt Index Specialty and Conventional Polyolefin Elastomers for high-performance flexible packaging, transportation and consumer markets (Capacity: 320 KTA), expected to come online in late 2018.