RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (August 1) - Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has started manufacturing a new catalyst used in the production of butene-1, an ethylene derivative used in the production of polyethylenes. The catalyst, named SABCAT-1, improves the quality of butene-1 and reduces its cost of production.
SABCAT-1 is currently being manufactured at the SABIC Industrial Complex for Research and Development, based in Riyadh. The complex now consists of a production plant to meet the catalyst requirement of PETROKEMYA (Arabian Petrochemical Company), a wholly-owned SABIC affiliate that produces butene-1, and other potential licensees in Saudi Arabia.
The R&D plant will eventually be able to supply the catalyst to other butene-1 producers in the Kingdom and the Arabian Gulf. SABIC will also produce the catalyst at overseas SABIC Technology Centers (STCs) to support its customers worldwide. SABIC's first STC, based in Houston, Texas (USA), has been operating since 1997, and a second center is under construction in Vadodara, Gujarat (India).
The SABCAT achievement is closely related to SABIC's involvement in developing the butene-1 process in the early 1990s in partnership with the French company, Institut Francais du Petrol (IFP). The technology, called Alpha Butol, is now being licensed out jointly by SABIC and IFP worldwide. SABIC has licensed the process to 19 butene-1 plants in the world that have a total annual production capacity of 312,000 metric tons per year.
-Ends-
Mohammad Al-Motawa
Vice President, Public Relations
© Press Release 2005
