Wilton, Teesside Sabic LDPE plant set for September startup

Sabic will be hoping demand grows quickly to soak up production from its new low density polyethylene (LDPE) chemical plant at Wilton, Teesside, UK.

This long-delayed project is now scheduled for startup in September, according to the UK's Institute of Chemical Engineers.

With all the other chemical plant closures at the UK site, Saudi Arabia's Sabic will be relying on this plant to soak up excess ethylene from its 800,000 tonne/year world scale cracker. My recent feature "Wilton closures highlight challenges for Europe chemical sites" highlight this issue.

According to IChemE: "The plant, owned by Huntsman until Sabic’s takeover, had an original start-up date of the fourth quarter of 2007. This was put back to February 2008 following delays to construction work, which eventually began in 2006. Full capacity is expected to be reached during 2010. Sabic says that the commissioning work at the plant is “well advanced”.

The 400,000 t/y plant will be the largest of its kind in the world, and has been built at a cost of £250m ($407m). Around 110 permanent jobs have been created at the site."

Picture credit IChemE