Chemical Week - November 4/11
New construction
Mark Thomas 2024-11-08 06:52:34
Alujain nears construction for Yanbu PDH/PP complex
Alujain Corp. (Riyadh) said it expects to start initial construction on a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, in the fourth quarter.
The company said it has so far invested approximately 520 million Saudi riyals ($139 million) in developing the project, with a front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase completed in the first half of 2024. “The initial construction implementation phase will begin in the fourth quarter of this year,” it said Oct. 31 in a Saudi stock exchange announcement for its third-quarter financial results.
In May this year, LyondellBasell Industries NV said it had completed the previously announced 1.87 billion riyals acquisition of a 35% stake in Alujain’s subsidiary National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (Natpet; Yanbu, Saudi Arabia), with Alujain retaining a 65% stake. Natpet produces PP and has a capacity of approximately 400,000 metric tons per year.
Alujain and LyondellBasell said at that time that they were also jointly assessing the construction of a PDH/PP facility at Natpet’s site, subject to a final investment decision (FID). LyondellBasell’s Spheripol PP technology is used at Natpet’s plants. An FID has not yet been announced by the companies for the PDH/PP project.
In September 2023, Alujain awarded a FEED study to Samsung Engineering for the new PDH/PP complex at Yanbu. The basic design work was scheduled for completion in May 2024. The plants being studied by Samsung would have nameplate production capacities for 600,000 metric tons per year of propylene and 500,000 metric tons per year of PP, it said at the time of the announcement. The award process for the full engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project was expected to start by mid-2024, it said at that time.
Alujain originally announced plans for the PDH/PP complex at Natpet’s site in May 2023, with the total investment estimated at about $2 billion. Startup was originally planned for the first half of 2026.
↘ LyondellBasell technology selected for new HDPE plant in China
LyondellBasell Industries NV has announced that China Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Co. has selected LyondellBasell’s Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (Hostalen ACP) technology for a new 300,000 metric tons per year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) project at Yinchuan, China. The plant will begin operations using Avant Z501 and Avant Z509-1 catalysts to produce a full range of multimodal HDPE products, it said.
↘ BASF to increase EPS production at Ludwigshafen, Germany
BASF SE has announced plans to increase production of the company’s Neopor expandable polystyrene (EPS) at Ludwigshafen, Germany. Capacity will rise by 50,000 metric tons per year, with the startup of new production facilities scheduled for early 2027. The project is designed to help meet growing demand for insulation materials, BASF said. The company has not provided its current capacity for Neopor, which is a graphite-containing EPS granulate developed by BASF and primarily used as a raw material for the production of energy-efficient insulation materials for building envelopes. The graphite contained gives the material a gray color and enhances insulation performance by up to 30% compared with white EPS, the company said.
↘ Borouge petchems expansion at Ruwais reaches 80% completion
Borouge PLC said its Borouge 4 petrochemicals mega-project at Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, is now 80% complete, advancing from its most recent update in August when the project had reached about 70% completion. The Borouge 4 project, which will increase the company’s production capacity by 28%, is on schedule and “fully energized” through a connection to the national grid, Borouge said on Oct. 29. On its scheduled completion, ownership of the project will transfer from state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (Adnoc) and Borealis AG, to Borouge, increasing the latter’s production capacity by 1.4 million metric tons per year (MMt/y), to 6.4 MMt/y by the end of 2025. Another previously announced project will expand the Borouge 2 ethylene unit at Ruwais by 2028, increasing its olefins and polyolefins capacity by 230,000 metric tons per year.
↘ TotalEnergies JV, partners to develop green hydrogen plant in Morocco
A joint venture between TotalEnergies SA and Eren Groupe SA (Luxembourg) has signed a preliminary contract with two Danish companies for a proposed renewables and green hydrogen project in Morocco to produce up to 200,000 metric tons per year of green ammonia for export to Europe, according to TotalEnergies. The JV, named TE H2, is partnering with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP’s) Energy Transition Fund and AP Moller Capital’s Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund to launch pre-front end engineering and design (pre-FEED) studies for the proposed Chbika project in the Guelmim-Oued Noun region. TE H2, CIP and AP Moller signed a preliminary land reservation contract with the Moroccan government for the project, the parties said. TotalEnergies holds an 80% interest in the TE H2 JV, with Eren holding the rest.
↘ Sipchem eyes completion of Jubail blue ammonia plant by end-2028
Sahara International Petrochemical Co. (Sipchem; Khobar, Saudi Arabia) said it expects to complete the development of a new blue ammonia project at Jubail, Saudi Arabia, by the fourth quarter of 2028. A schedule for the plant, which is planned to have a nameplate capacity of 1.2 million metric tons per year, had not previously been given. The completion date for the project was given in a company presentation as part of its third-quarter financial results.
↘ Coromandel to expand NPK fertilizer capacity in India
Fertilizers and agricultural chemicals producer Coromandel International Ltd. (Hyderabad, India) said its board has approved projects with a total investment outlay of about 8.0 billion Indian rupees ($95.1 million). Plans include building an NPK fertilizers granulation unit at Kakinada, India. The unit will have a production capacity of 750,000 metric tons per year, taking the site’s total nameplate capacity to 3 million metric tons per year, it said. The cost of the project is 5.13 billion rupees, and it is expected to be completed in two years, it said.
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