$40 Million Debottleneck in Abu Dhabi Leading to World Scale Downstream Polys Projects

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Borouge, the joint venture between Denmark's Borealis (Kongens Lyngby, Denmark) (PEC 79000023,79900052) and ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company-UAE) is to spend $40 million on a debottlenecking operation at the Borstar technology unit, which will raise the polyethylene (PE) capacity from 450,000 to 580,000 tons per annum. The project, which includes the expansion of material handling facilities, is scheduled for completion by the second quarter of 2005. In addition, Borouge will assume full off take of the existing 600,000 tons annual output from the ethylene cracker.

The partners in Borouge are studying plans for further expansions that would form a world scale petrochemical complex at Ruwais in Abu Dhabi (PEC 98500013/15/34/35/39/40). Earlier this year they signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) and are proceeding with a feasibility study for a new large-scale cracker and downstream polyolefin plants. The expansion is based on two ADNOC natural gas developments equivalent to around 1.4 million tons of ethylene. Conclusions on the study are likely to be made during 2004 with expected start-up of the new plants in 2008.

This planning builds on the successful start up and two years of operation for Borouge and is backed by increasing demand for enhanced polyolefins and more feedstock becoming available.

"We have successfully positioned our products in the targeted markets and applications. Our customers are extremely satisfied with the superior quality of our enhanced PE products using Borealis' bimodal Borstar technology," says Hubert Puchner ceo of Borouge. "We are looking forward to offering more of these valuable products to the market. The demand for polyolefins in the Middle East and Asia is expected to grow between 6% and 8% until the year 2010," he said.

Limited extrudability has been a particular problem in conventional, low-pressure PE processes. The manufacturer produces high molecular-weight linear molecules for high impact strength, but this impairs the extrusion characteristics.

Borealis claim to have overcome the extrudability problems by producing truly bimodal products with the Borstar process and offers the same advantages in PP. Tailoring their molecular structure to meet customers' demands is the cornerstone of Borstar technology.

Abu Dhabi Polymers Co (Borouge) ceo Harri Bucht says that by expanding olefins and polyolefins production the company will achieve greater cost efficiency and sharpen its competitive edge. "The planned expansions are a major step in developing Borouge into a leading polyolefins company in the Middle East based on a world scale petrochemical complex," says Bucht.