Appryl invests FF1bn in PP expansions

23 April 1998 18:10  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--Appryl, the Elf Atochem-BP 51:49 polypropylene (PP) joint venture, announced two major investments totalling FF1bn ($165m) Thursday.

The company will build a 250 000 tonne/year homopolymer PP plant at Grangemouth, Scotland, to come onstream in late 1999. It is also expanding capacity for its propylene-ethylene block copolymers at Gonfreville-l'Orcher in France, from 140 000 tonne/year to 200 000 tonne/year by the end of 1999. No breakdown was given of the individual project costs.

Appryl said the new Grangemouth plant, which has on-site propylene integration from BP's cracker, is designed to meet the needs of the UK market which currently imports around 400 000 tonne/year of PP.

The projects will use Appryl's latest technological developments, including a new block copolymerisation process developed at Elf Atochem's Mont research centre in southwest France.

Appryl also operates a 270 000 tonne/year PP plant at Lavera in the south of France, the largest in the world. The company said its three sites would have a total capacity of over 700 000 tonne/year of PP in 2000.

As at Grangemouth, the Gonfreville and Lavera sites both have crackers supplying propylene feedstock. In 2000 Appryl would be the only fully-integrated manufacturer to have all its plants' capacities exceeding 200 000 tonne/year, the company said.

By: Grace Williams
+44 208 652 3214

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