MOSCOW (MRC) -- PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), and its joint venture partners Sanyo Chemical and Toyota Tsusho, have awarded a construction contract to SK E&C for a new polyols facility in Thailand, as per Apic-online.
The 130,000-t/y polyols plant, which will be located in Hemaraj Eastern Industrial Estate, is planned to cost USD210-million. Construction is expected to last 35 months.
SK E&C will be responsible for the engineering, pro-curement, construction and trial operation of the new polyols facility.
The project also includes a 20,000-t/y polyurethane system at the same site. Both units are scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2020.
Separately, Sumitomo Chemical said it has reached an agreement with PTTGC to license its proprietary propylene oxide (PO) technology to PTTGC for a new 200,000-t/y PO facility planned to be built at the site. Completion is expected in the second quarter of 2020.
The PO production technology is based on a PO-only process in which, with cumene recycling, PO alone is manufactured without accompanying by-products, Sumi-tomo noted.
Combined with Sumitomo's high-performance epoxidation catalyst, the PO technology offers the distinct advantages of a high PO yield and superior stability in plant operation, it added.
As MRC reported before, PTT is on track to start commercial operations at its new 400,000 mt/year metallocene C6 linear low density polyethylene (MLLDPE) plant at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in the first quarter of 2018. PTT will start up the plant by the end of this year.
PTT Global Chemical is a leading player in the petrochemical industry and owns several petrochemical facilities with a combined capacity of 8.45 million tonnes a year.
MRC