Ineos AG, Rolle, Switzerland, has selected Antwerp, Belgium, as the site for its previously announced plan to build both a grassroots ethane cracker and propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in northern Europe (OGJ Online, July 3, 2018).
To be co-located with Ineos’ existing polymer-production sites in Europe and connected by pipeline to several the operator’s ethylene and propylene derivative units in the region, the €3-billion petrochemical complex will become the largest investment in the European chemicals sector in 20 years, Ineos said.
The proposed investment follows Ineos’ 2017 announcement of plans for a series of proposed grassroots and brownfield projects to expand its ethylene and propylene production capacities in Europe to support continued growth of the company’s European petrochemical business (OGJ Online, June 12, 2017).
Announcement of the site selection for the proposed cracker-PDH complex follows the operator’s earlier award of a contract to McDermott International Inc. (formerly CB&I) to deliver licensing and engineering of the PDH unit, which will be equipped with McDermott’s Lummus CATOFIN dehydrogenation process technology to produce 750,000 tonnes/year of propylene (OGJ Online, Oct. 10, 2018).
The PDH unit also will use CATOFIN catalyst and heat-generating material provided by Clariant International Ltd.
While Ineos has confirmed plans to commission the PDH unit in 2023, the company has yet to disclose either the precise timeframe or nameplate capacity of the accompanying cracker. Upon announcing the project, however, the operator said it expected the entirety of the project would be completed within 4 years from start of construction.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
