Celanese Corp. (Dallas, Tex.; www.celanese.com) announced that the Ibn Sina joint venture successfully started up its polyacetal manufacturing facility in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, which has a production capacity of 50,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr).
Celanese has confirmed that the facility has completed performance runs for all polyacetal grades and achieved full production rates resulting in the successful startup of the plant; therefore, the facility has been officially declared commercially operational. As previously announced, upon successful startup of the polyacetal facility, Celanese’s economic interest in Ibn Sina will increase from 25% to a total of 32.%, providing further financial benefits for Celanese.
Ibn Sina is a joint venture between SABIC and CTE, a company jointly owned by subsidiaries of Celanese and Duke Energy. Celanese, SABIC and Duke Energy entered into the Ibn Sina joint venture in 1981. Construction of the polyacetal facility is part of an extension of the Ibn Sina joint venture. Subsidiaries of Celanese and Duke Energy each currently hold a 25 percent ownership interest in the joint venture, with the remaining 50 percent held by SABIC.
The polyacetal facility will utilize methanol as feedstock which is produced internally at Ibn Sina. Polyacetal is a differentiated, high value-added product mainly used in automobile and electronics industries in addition to mechanical and construction manufacturers and other industrial applications.