The Dow Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) announced that its joint venture (JV) in the Middle East—Sadara Chemical Company (Sadara)—has achieved a significant milestone with the commercialization of Sadara’s entire plastics franchise. The startup of Sadara’s high-pressure low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant adds to Sadara’s mixed-feed cracker and the three additional polyethylene trains currently in operation.
“Sadara is a vital growth investment aligned to Dow’s long-term strategy to go narrower and deeper into our core growth markets,” said Andrew Liveris, Dow’s chairman and chief executive officer. “The completion of this milestone positions Dow to strengthen our global materials science franchise by capturing additional consumer demand and extending our competitive advantage through industry-leading integration and feedstock flexibility.”
The world-scale complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, continues to make steady progress on its start-up and commercialization activities. Sadara’s mixed feed cracker—the largest single unit at the facility—began operations in August 2016. The first three polyethylene production units came online in December 2015, April 2016 and September 2016, and each are reactor qualified and have met their license warranty runs. Thirty two polyethylene products have been qualified to date, serving more than 350 customers in 58 countries. Construction of all of Sadara’s 26 production facilities was completed in December 2016.
“Sadara’s plastics units enable Dow to offer a technology-differentiated portfolio in expanding economies across Asia Pacific, India, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said Jim Fitterling, Dow’s president and chief operating officer. “Our customers have been eagerly anticipating this new volume and will benefit from Sadara’s broad product offering and close proximity to these fast-growing regions.”
The remaining units at the complex are on schedule for a sequenced start-up throughout 2017, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and their derivatives (butyl glycol ethers, propylene glycol, amines, and polyols) and isocyanates.
Sadara is a joint venture developed by Dow and Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). The Sadara chemical complex is the largest of its kind ever built in a single phase. The more than three million metric tons of performance-focused products will add new value chains to the Kingdom’s vast petroleum reserves, resulting in the diversification of the economy and region.