Sipchem Announces the Start-up of its Acetic Acid Plant

Monday, Nov 23, 2009

The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) announced the start-up of its Acetic Acid Plant in its Jubail Industrial City site on Sunday, 22 November 2009. The start-up of the Acetic Plant is considered the second step towards the full operation of the integrated Acetyls Complex. The first step, as previously announced, was the start-up of the Carbon Monoxide Plant which is the considered as the largest of its kind in the world. The Carbon Monoxide is used as a primary feed stock for the production of the Acetic Acid. Half of the Acetic Acid production will be utilized as a feed-stock for the Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) Plant which is the final stages of start-up expected to take place in early December. The remaining part of the Acetic Acid production will be marketed in the local and international markets starting next January.

The annual production capacity of the new plant is 460 thousand metric tons of Acetic Acid and 50 thousand metric tons of Acetic Anhydride. The technology for the plant was provided by Eastman Chemical, USA. The operation of the Acetyl Complex is considered a positive step towards diversification of the company product portfolio and enhancement of its profitability. In addition, it will also open the door wide for many downstream industries in the Kingdom which in turn will have its positive impact on the expansion and the diversification of end products industries.

Source: Sipchem