Page 21 - Plastics News January 2020

CompAny news

Avantium confirms location of PetroRabigh shutdown to curb

FDCA plant polymers output

he Avantium Renewable Polymers subsidiary of Dutch he refinery on Saudi Arabia's west coast will start
Ttechnology firm Avantium has signed a letter of intent Tmaintenance on 24 February until 9 April. The
to locate its flagship plant at Chemie Park Delfzijl in polymer units will be affected for around the same
the Netherlands.The 5,000-tonne facility will produce period as the refinery shutdown. The scheduled
plant-based FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), which is a key shutdown of Saudi Arabia's 400,000 b/d PetroRabigh
building block for many chemicals and plastics such as PEF refinery at the end of February will restrict its
production of downstream polymers. Petrorabigh
operates a 700,000 t/yr polypropylene unit, 600,000
t/yr linear low-density polyethylene/high-density
PE (HDPE) swing line, a 300,000 t/yr HDPE unit
and a 160,000 t/yr low-density polyethylene unit.
PetroRabigh is a joint venture between state-owned
Saudi Aramco and Japanese trading house Sumitomo.
Petro Rabigh II is an expansion project valued at US $9
billion that reached full production by 4th Quarter 2017
and provided a wide range of new high value-added
products, some of which are exclusive to the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.Petro Rabigh products
have a vast range of applications that offer innovative
(polyethylene furanoate).Avantium Renewable Polymers downstream investors the chance to establish new
has also entered into a letter of intent with a Regional industries in the region, bringing with them new skills
Consortium relating to the financing of the FDCA flagship and job opportunities. Petro Rabigh also offers many
plant and associated costs, for an amount of €30 million exciting investment opportunities through Petro Rabigh
($33m), over the period to the plant’s completion in 2023. industrial complex (Rabigh PlusTech Park) which is the
Avantium believes that the new plant will be an important first private Industrial Park for conversion industries in
step in helping transition the chemicals industry away from
fossil resources and towards sustainable feedstocks. The
FDCA plant will be located near Av antium’s demonstration
plant for plant-based mono-ethylene glycol (MEG), and
its pilot biorefinery, producing glucose and lignin from
non-food biomass.“Avantium and Groningen share an
ambition to support the transition to a circular economy,”
said Nienke Homan, regional minister of the Province
of Groningen. “Along with the increased innovation the
flagship plant will bring to the region, the Avantium
plant will create over 60 highly skilled jobs and provides
significant indirect employment opportunities. Avantium’s Saudi Arabia, and is designed to accommodate polymer
decision to build its plant at Delfzijl is a testament to compounding Third Party Projects. It is a site next to
the strong ecosystem that the region provides for green Petro Rabigh where downstream industries utilize Petro
chemistry.” “Groningen Seaports offers us an excellent Rabigh products as feedstock to produce chemical
location with the right infrastructure,” added Avantium’s compounds such as polyols, polymer stabilizers, xylenes
chief executive Tom van Aken. He added that Avantium and solvents. The Rabigh Plastic Technical Center
is on track to attract the funding required for the FDCA (R-PTC), a state-of-the-art facility run by Sumitomo
flagship plant, which it aims to have in place before the Chemical, provides technical support and training in
end of 2020. plastic processing technology.

21 Januar y 2020 Plastics News