Ineos Phenol Ups Antwerp Phenol/Acetone Output 42% to 640,000 tons a Year

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Pre-engineering has begun on the expansion of the Ineos Phenol's phenol/acetone plant in Antwerp, Belgium. The plant will be expanded from its current production capacity of 450,000 tons per annum (tap) to 640,000 tons tpa. This 42% increase in capacity will see the plant more than tripling its original 1993 capacity of 200,000 tpa. When a second line was opened in 1997, production was upped to 420,000 tpa, and subsequent debottlenecking brought capacity to the current level.

Aker Kvaerner (NYSE:AKVER) is finished with the pre-engineering for the project, which is in line with Ineos Phenol’s growth strategy. Ineos Phenol will be using its own proprietary technology on the project. The expanded plant should be operating at full capacity by 2007.

Ineos Phenol’s CEO, Bill Reid said that the investment had been under consideration for some time, as the company had approached maximum plant occupancies at Antwerp and the plant at Plaquemine, Louisiana. He said that the time was now right to implement the initiatives that would permit IO to support the growth plans of customers.

The company decided to enlarge its facility at Antwerp after deciding against a greenfield project in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, which, after analysis, was shown not to give adequate returns on investment. But with a continuing commitment to the Asian market, Ineos Phenol is investigating direct investment opportunities in the region, with a new focus on China.

Following moves to develop its export supply chain, the company has recently opened a new tank facility with Odfjell in Rotterdam. This is supplied by rail from Gladbeck using highly efficient block-trains.

Ineos Phenol is also establishing a cumene raw material pipeline connection from the canal port in Marl, Germany, to its Gladbeck site, which becomes operational this month. These logistics additions will transform Gladbeck from a land-locked site into one that is connected to international waterways.

Towards the end of 2004, Ineos Phenol added a fourth rector to its alkoxylation plant capacity in Antwerp. The unit was acquired from BASF and added 10,000 tpa to the existing alkoxylation capacity of 140,000 tpa.

Ineos Phenol, the world's largest producer of phenol and acetone, is a member of the $6.5 billion Ineos Group of companies (Lyndhurst, U.K.). Ethylene Oxide (EO) derivatives produced by IO include glycols, ethylene glycol based coolants, ethanolamines, glycol ethers, and alkoxylates. It is also a leading producer of ethylidene norbornene momomers and acetate ester solvents.

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