Solvay to form Joint Venture with Sadara to build Hydrogen Peroxide plant in Saudi Arabia

Solvay’s high-yield hydrogen peroxide production plant to supply hydrogen peroxide for propylene oxide production at recently announced world-scale chemicals project



Solvay announced today that it has the intention to create a 50/50 joint venture with Sadara Chemical Company (itself a planned joint venture of Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow)) for the construction and operation of a Hydrogen Peroxide Plant in Jubail industrial City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2015, this new plant is intended to supply Hydrogen Peroxide (HP) as a raw material for the manufacture of propylene oxide (PO) by Sadara at its world-scale, fully integrated chemicals complex.

Propylene oxide is used to produce propylene glycol, polyurethanes and glycol ethers. Solvay will use its proprietary, high-yield hydrogen peroxide technology for the world-scale plant.

Dow and Saudi Aramco announced the planned formation of Sadara on July 25, 2011. Building on Saudi Aramco’s project management and execution expertise, and utilizing many of Dow’s industry leading technologies, the Sadara chemicals complex, comprising 26 manufacturing units, will be one of the world’s largest integrated chemical facilities, and the largest ever built in one single phase. The complex will possess flexible cracking capabilities and will produce over 3 million metric tons of high value-added chemical products and performance plastics, capitalizing on rapidly growing markets in energy, transportation, infrastructure and consumer products. Jubail Industrial City is the largest industrial complex of its kind in the world. It is located in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Dammam.

The proposed hydrogen peroxide megaplant in Saudi Arabia will be Solvay’s third. The Solvay Group operates today a 230 kt/y megaplant in Antwerp, Belgium, and is currently commissioning a 330 kt/y megaplant in Map Ta Phut, Thailand. The new planned HP plant in Jubail Industrial City will further strengthen Solvay’s leadership in this field. By using the advanced hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology, it is possible to reduce both the capital intensity and the environmental footprint of PO production compared to conventional production technologies.

SOLVAY is an international industrial Group active in Chemistry. It offers a broad range of products and solutions that contribute to improving quality of life. The Group is headquartered in Brussels and employs about 14,800 people in 40 countries. In 2010, its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 7.1 billion. Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium (NYSE Euronext: SOLB.BE - Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR).