Innovative polypropylene ventures in Europe

Sabic continued its global expansion with the inauguration, on September 13, 2017, of a new polypropylene (PP) pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, and the announcement of a new investment in a state-of-the-art PP extrusion facility to be built at the same location. Both facilities, dedicated to innovation in Sabic PP products, support SABIC’s 2025 strategy to be the preferred world leader in chemicals by delivering “Chemistry that Matters”.

An opening ceremony for the pilot plant and a customer event was presided over by Yousef Al-Benyan, Sabic vice chairman and CEO, Abdulrahman Al-Fageeh, executive vice president of Petrochemicals at Sabic, and the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Henk Kamp.

In line with Sabic’s strategic commitment to customer-driven innovation, the new PP pilot plant, located at the Sabic’s Global Technology Center for Europe in Geleen, will design next-generation PP materials. It is already on-stream using gas-phase polymerization technology. The plant will enable accelerated development and commercialization of highly innovative material solutions that meet the growing needs of various industries, including automotive, health- and personal care, appliances and advanced packaging.

The new facility will serve to develop grades with improved balance in stiffness and impact resistance, flow properties and other properties specific to target applications. Sabic plans to concentrate on development of impact grades of polypropylene, as well as random copolymers and homopolymers. It will also carry out experiments on advanced catalysts.

The highly automated, cutting-edge PP extrusion line is expected to be in operation in the fourth quarter of 2017 on Sabic’s Geleen site. It will answer customers’ needs for advanced materials that can support them developing the next generation lightweight applications in industries such as packaging, appliances, automotive, and healthcare.