Nova outlines progress on new plants in Ontario, Indiana

Storage silos at Nova’s Connersville, Ind., plant. Photo Credit: Nova Chemicals Corp.

Calgary-based Nova Chemicals Corp. has completed a major polyethylene (PE) resin expansion in Ontario and is moving closer towards completion of its first mechanical recycling plant, in Connersville, Ind.

At a press event during NPE2024, Nova officials said the company is moving forward quickly on expansion projects for both virgin and recycled PE.

Nova officials said the company has finished construction of its new PE manufacturing site on Rokeby Line in St. Clair Township and the expansion of its Corunna facility next door. Nova began work on the new plant and the expansion in 2017, and construction continued through the pandemic. The plant on Rokeby Line has the capacity to produce approximately one-billion pounds of PE a year. It uses ethylene that Nova produces at the Corunna site from natural gas liquids, and the recent project expanded that site’s capacity by more than 50 per cent.

For the Connersville plant, Nova has partnered with packaging giant Novolex Holdings Inc. on the venture. Novolex will operate the facility, which will employ about 125 and produce more than 100 million pounds of Nova’s Syndigo-brand recycled PE resin per year. The plant is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025, Nova said, and the company anticipates having four lines by early 2026. Construction is underway and on schedule, they said, with 13 storage silos – each measuring 60 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter – having been built.

“We’re leaning heavily into mechanical recycling,” Greg DeKunder, Nova’s circular solutions vice president, said at the press event. “We’re still looking into advanced recycling, but mechanical recycling is here now, and it’s low-carbon.” According to DeKunder, the Connersville site is a good location for the Canadian firm since it’s close to several major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Midwest and is also near several distribution businesses that use significant amounts of PE film. “Connersville is in the middle of nowhere but it’s also in the middle of everything,” he said.