MOSCOW (MRC) -- Austrian petrochemical company Borealis has begun preparations for the start of Borouge 3 in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, reported Apic-online with reference to Borealis CEO Mark Garrett's statement at the K fair international plastics and rubber fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.
"We have begun preparations for the start up of Borouge 3 like air testing and drying of units. The different units will start up in a staggered way through 2014," he said.
Borouge 3, includes an 1.5 million mt/year ethane cracker, three polyethylene (PE) units with a capacity of 1.43 million mt/year and two polypropylene (PP) with a capacity of 960,000 mt/year.
The Borealis CEO added that the cracker will start before the polyolefins unit. "We will have shipments of ethylene to balance the usage. We can also balance usage within our Borouge system," he added. He did not specify the exact start up dates.
The existing capacity of Borouge 1 and 2 is 2.1 million mt/year of ethylene, 1.14 million mt/year of PE, 860,000 mt/year of PP and an olefins conversion unit with a capacity of 752,000 mt/year.
As MRC wrote earlier, in 2012, Borealis and Borouge combined their expertise to serve the automotive market by introducing a new grade of polypropylene (PP) specified for use in lightweight bumper applications for two new Renault automotive platforms.
Borouge is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil company and Borealis.
MRC