Nov 7 2008
Dow Technology Licensing, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated affiliates (Dow), and Saudi European Petrochemical Co. (IBN ZAHR), a Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) Joint Venture, announced the start-up of the world’s single largest polypropylene (PP) train. The facility is located in Al Jubail Industrial City on the Persian Gulf Coast and uses UNIPOLTM Polypropylene Process Technology to manufacture homopolymers and random copolymers. Nameplate capacity is 500 thousand metric tons of PP resins per year.
The start-up is the third facility at the IBN ZAHR-SABIC JV in Al Jubail to employ the UNIPOL PP Process. With this facility and another being built in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, SABIC will have nearly 1.8 million metric tons of annual capacity using UNIPOL™ PP Process Technology.
“We are excited to share the news of this success with SABIC,” said Dr. Molly Peifang Zhang, business vice president of Dow Technology Licensing. “The IBN ZAHR facility has been operating with UNIPOL PP Process for over 12 years and achieving this milestone with a long-term partner shows that our technology continues to bring value to our customers and allows us to meet the needs of their operation no matter the scope or size.”
The UNIPOL™ PP Process Technology is a gas-phase process for producing the broadest range of polypropylene resins. Its simple design is both reliable and energy efficient, requiring no equipment for handling, separating or recycling solvents. When this plant and others currently in the execution stage enter service, UNIPOL™ PP Process Technology will be used to produce nearly 11 million metric tons of polypropylene per year, which will represent more than 16 percent of total global capacity.