Sep 25 2007
ExxonMobil Chemical today announced it will invest in an expansion of its Rotterdam Aromatics Plant. The expansion will make this world-scale plant ExxonMobil’s largest paraxylene production facility, increasing its paraxylene production capacity by 25 percent and benzene production capacity by 20 percent.
“This investment demonstrates ExxonMobil’s ongoing commitment to meet growing customer demand for these products and is part of the company’s strategy to develop world-scale, highly integrated chemical facilities with globally competitive cost structures,” said Matt Aguiar, Basic Chemicals Global Business vice president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company. “The new unit will benefit from integration with existing facilities and capture a number of synergies with the base plant.”
In addition, the new unit will employ ExxonMobil’s proprietary PxMaxSM technology to produce paraxylene and benzene. The PxMax process improves selectivity, generates less waste and reduces energy requirements versus existing technologies.
This expansion project, which will be owned and operated by ExxonMobil Chemical Holland B.V., is targeted to help meet growing European demand for paraxylene and benzene. Construction for the expansion project will commence this year.