Chemical Week • July 3/10 • New construction

Saudi Aramco and TotalEnergies SA have awarded engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to seven companies for the $11 billion Amiral petrochemical project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Aramco and TotalEnergies made a final investment decision on Amiral in December last year.

The companies said at a formal signing ceremony in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that the award of the EPCs for the main process units and associated utilities marked the start of the construction phase for the large-scale complex, which will be integrated with the 460,000 barrels per day Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (Satorp) crude oil refinery, an existing joint venture of Aramco and TotalEnergies.

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. was awarded the EPC for a mixed-feed steam cracker and related utilities, with the cracker to have a nameplate capacity of 1.65 million metric tons per year of ethylene. The work scope also includes utilities for industrial gases, flares and interconnecting systems to support other main packages within the complex.

Maire Tecnimont SpA secured an EPC for two 500,000 metric tons per year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) units using advanced dual-loop technology, and several other derivative units. In a separate statement, Maire Tecnimont put the combined value of its EPCs at $2 billion. It also gave further details of the derivative plants covered by the lump-sum contracts. In addition to the HDPE units, the work scope covers olefins including butadiene, as well as methyl tert-butyl ether, benzene and toluene extraction units. Other units include a butadiene selective hydrogenation unit, a second-stage pyrolysis gas hydrogenation unit and product logistics facilities, it said.

The contract’s duration is put at approximately four years and covers engineering services, equipment and material supply, construction activities, precommissioning and commissioning, Maire Tecnimont said.

Other EPCs were awarded by Aramco and TotalEnergies as follows: Sinopec Engineering Group Saudi Co., Ltd. for a tank farm and integration with the Satorp facility; Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co. for transfer pipelines; Mohammed Ali Al-Suwailem Trading & Contracting Co. for industrial support facilities; Mofarreh Marzouq Al Harbi & Partners Co., Ltd. for site preparation; and Mubarak Marei Al Salomi Contracting Co. for temporary construction facilities.

The Amiral project is expected to attract more than $4 billion in additional investment, Aramco and TotalEnergies said in a joint statement.

In May, Arlanxeo announced plans to build a 140,000 metric tons per year plant for high-performance synthetic elastomers at Jubail, with EPC contracts scheduled for award in the second half of 2023 and construction to start in 2024. Arlanxeo, a subsidiary of Aramco, said the elastomers plant would be integrated within the planned butadiene facility at the Amiral site.

↘ Sasa Polyester to license UOP process for large-scale PDH unit in Turkey

Sasa Polyester Sanayi AŞ (Adana, Turkey) will license Honeywell UOP’s process technology for a new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant with a nameplate propylene production capacity of 1 million metric tons per year (MMt/y) at Yumurtalik, Turkey. The facility will be the world’s largest PDH plant, according to Honeywell. It will utilize Honeywell’s Oleflex technology, with the project to take place between 2023 and 2026, it said. The project will also include a liquids and container port, it added. An investment amount has not been disclosed. The Oleflex process is used to produce light olefins through the catalytic dehydrogenation of light paraffin, providing on-purpose polymer-grade propylene and/or isobutylene. Sasa is Turkey’s largest producer of polyester and polyester-related polymers. Sasa’s existing complex at Adana produces polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyester staple fiber (PSF) and polyester partially oriented yarn, as well as specialty polymers. The company earlier outlined plans to build a 1.5 MMt/y purified terephthalic acid plant at Yumurtalik as part of a complex also planned to include a 330,000 metric tons per year PET plant and a 367,500 metric tons per year PSF plant. All three facilities are scheduled to start operations in 2023.

Cepsa will invest €75 million to build the world’s first plant for the sustainable production of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) from renewable or circular materials at the La Rábida energy park at Huelva, Spain. The plant will be integrated into the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project and be operational by 2025, it said. The project will be developed by Cepsa Química, SA, Cepsa’s chemicals business, and will be the first facility of its type, according to the company.

The Hungarian government has announced that battery parts manufacturer Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. (Tongxiang, China) will invest 520 billion Hungarian forint ($1.5 billion) to build its first European cathode materials plant at Ács, Hungary. The plant will supply cathode materials to the car industry, according to the Hungarian ministry of foreign affairs and trade. The ministry did not say when construction of the factory was scheduled to start or finish.

↘ Syclus to license Axens technology for Dutch renewable ethanol-to-ethylene plant

Syclus BV (Maastricht, Netherlands) plans to build and operate a 100,000 metric tons per year renewable ethylene plant at Geleen, Netherlands, using ethanol-to-ethylene technology licensed from Axens SA. The proposed plant will be located in the Chemelot industrial park at Geleen and use renewable ethanol as feedstock, according to Axens. The estimated investment in the project is put at more than €130 million, it said. Basic engineering is scheduled to start later this year, with first production expected in 2026, according to Axens. The feedstock ethanol will be produced by CropEnergies AG, which operates a nearby renewable ethanol plant and which acquired a 50% stake in Syclus in 2022, it said. CropEnergies said it expects to make a decision on basic engineering by the end of 2023.