LyondellBasell Firms Up Trinidad PP C omplex
LyondellBasell Industries has signed a project development agreement for a previously announced polypropylene (PP) manufacturing complex in Trinidad and Tobago. The company signed the agreement through its Basell Service Co. subsidiary. The other signatories are the government of Trinidad and Tobago, National Gas Co. of Trinidad and Tobago, National
Energy Corp. of Trinidad and Tobago (NEC), and Lurgi.
The deal “is intended to provide the relevant framework to govern the relationship among the parties to evaluate jointly the construction and operation of a fully integrated polypropylene complex in Trinidad and Tobago,” LyondellBasell says.
The complex will have capacity for 490,000 m.t./year of PP,
LyondellBasell says. It will be built at Point Lisas and be based Trautz: Sustainable local and on three world-scale plants: a methanol unit using Lurgi’s regional supply. MegaMethanol technology; a methanol-to-propylene (MTP) unit based on Lurgi’s MTP process; and a PP unit using LyondellBasell’s Spherizone technology. Start up is “ tentatively scheduled” for late 2012, LyondellBasell says. The entire project will be carried out in conjunction with Lurgi, LyondellBasell adds.
“Our main goal is to establish a sustainable local and regional supply of polyolefins to the emerging local plastics industry, to South American markets where demand is forecast to increase at an average annual growth rate of 5.2%, as well as to North American markets,” says Volker Trautz, CEO of LyondellBasell.
The government of Trinidad and Tobago was not part of the project when a preliminary agreement was signed in December 2007. “The thrust of the government is to develop second and third derivate industries from natural gas,” says Andrew Jupiter, president of NEC. “The polyolefins industry is one such industry identified for development, as it is viewed as a building block for expansion of the local plastics manufacturing sector.”
The Trinidad and Tobago project is one of LyondellBasell’s several PP initiatives by worldwide (p. 39). —IAN YOUNG
... Expands HDPE Unit in India Gail India says it plans to increase capacity of the company’s high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plant at Pata, India from 100,000 m.t./year, to 500,000 m.t./year and eventually 800,000 m.t./year. “Increased production of polymers at Pata will further add value for shareholders,” says U. D. Choubey, chairman and managing director of Gail.
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Evonik Industries says it plans to increase
hydrogen peroxide (HO) capacity at
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Umbogintwini, South Africa by 50%, to
15,000 m.t./year. The company expects to
carry out the project in the first half of 2009,
says Thomas Rieche, head of Evonik’s active
oxygen business. Evonik says it will invest
€ 3 million ($4 million) for the project. “The
expansion is intended to secure market lead-
ership in South Africa and meet steadily
increasing demand for hydrogen peroxide,”
the company says. Evonik says it is the second-
biggest producer of H O with total capacity
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of more than 600,000 m.t./year. The company
makes the product at sites in 10 countries.
Lurgi Zimmer Selected for China PBT Unit Lurgi Zimmer, a Lurgi subsidiary, says it has been awarded a contract by Xinjiang Blue Ridge Tunhe Chemical Industry Co. (Changji, China) to build a polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) plant. The unit will make PBT chips using purified terephthalic acid and butanediol as raw materials, and based on Lurgi Zimmer’s continuous polycondensation technology including tetrahydrofuran recovery, the company says. It will be built at Changji, which is located in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China, and it is due to go onstream in 2009. The plant’s capacity was not disclosed.
project will be implemented in phases in line with projected growth in key markets for hard wax,” says Johan du Preez, managing director at Sasol Wax. “We are pre-ordering equipment such as the synthesis reactor that has very long delivery times. This will ensure the fastest possible implementation time of the first phase,” du Preez says. The project will also result in increased production of medium waxes, mostly used for the candle industry in southern Africa, as well as liquid paraffins used in a variety of industrial applications.
Sibur Signs Agreement for Major Petchem Complex Sibur and Salavatnefteorgsintez (Salavat, Russia) have signed a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to build a world-scale petrochemical complex at Salavatnefteorgsintez’s Salavat site. The complex would be based on a plant producing ethylene and propylene through pyrolisis of gasoline and liquefied hydrocarbon gases, and would include plants producing benzene, butadiene, ethylene glycol, polyethylene, and polypropylene. Further details were not disclosed.
Sasol to Double Hard Wax Capacity in South Africa Sasol says it has approved a R558-million ($69.5-million) investment in the basic engineering phase of a project to double hard wax capacity at its Sasol Wax site near Johannesburg, South Africa. The first phase of construction is expected to be completed in 2011, and the second phase will start up in 2013, Sasol says. “Once fully approved, the
Plant in Colombia ... Gail India (New Delhi) plans to establish a “mega” petrochemical plant in Colombia, and Reliance Industries could be a partner in the project, media reports say. The project is in its early stages of planning and the size of the investment, the production capacity of the plant, and the time frame have not been decided, reports add. Gail and Reliance agreed last December to explore opportunities to establish petrochemical complexes in feedstock-rich countries outside India.
Polish Firm to Build Urea Facility Fertilizer producer Zaklady Azotowe Pulawy (ZAP; Pulawy, Poland) plans to build units with capacity for 270,000 m.t./year of urea and 100,000 m.t./year of AdBlue aqueous urea solution in the Starachowice Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Poland. ZAP has been granted a permit to conduct business activity in the Starachowice SEZ, which the company says will entitle it to tax relief of up to 50% on capital expenditures for the project. ZAP expects to spend at least € 45. 7 million ($65 million) in the SEZ by the end of 2010.
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