January 24, 2006 – Haldia Petrochemicals Limited has signed expansion agreements with Basell to increase the capacity of its polyethylene plant using the Spherilene process and its polypropylene plant using the Spheripol process. Both plants are located in Haldia, India.
According to Haldia, the Spherilene process LLD / HDPE plant will be expanded from 225 to 368 KT per year and the annual capacity of the Spheripol process PP plant will be increased from 211 to 320 KT. Completion of the projects is scheduled for the middle of 2007.
“Higher capacity production lines enable operators to benefit from economies of scale,” said Kaspar Evertz, senior vice president of Basell Licensing. “In the past ten years, the average capacity of polyolefin lines in operation has more than doubled”.
He added, “Plants using Basell’s Spherilene and Spheripol process technologies are easily expanded, which provide users with a cost effective way to add capacity, capture additional value from their business and extend the life of their operating assets.”
The Spherilene process is a swing gas phase technology capable of producing a broad range of mono- and bimodal HDPE and LLDPE products with the same Ziegler catalyst family. Worldwide, eleven Spherilene process licenses have been granted, with a total annual capacity of 2.2 million tonnes.
The Spheripol process was first commercialized in 1982. It is the most widely used polypropylene technology ever developed. It is fully compatible with both 4th and 5th generation catalyst families, including Basell’s Avant ZN diether and succinate catalysts. Worldwide 95 Spheripol process lines have been licensed with a combined annual capacity of 18 million tonnes.
Basell’s complete portfolio of licensed technologies is comprised of:
• Spheripol – polypropylene process for the production of homopolymer, random and heterophasic copolymers.
• Spherizone – latest generation polypropylene process based on new multi-zone reactor technology.
• Spherilene – swing gas phase process for the production of LLDPE, MDPE and HDPE.
• Hostalen - low-pressure slurry process for the production of bi-modal HDPE.
• Lupotech T – high pressure tubular reactor process for the production of LDPE and EVA copolymers.
Basell also produces and commercialises advanced catalyst systems which are sold under the Avant trade name.
Basell is the world's largest producer of polypropylene and advanced polyolefin products, a leading supplier of polyethylene and catalysts, and a global leader in the development and licensing of polypropylene and polyethylene processes. Basell, together with its joint ventures, has manufacturing facilities around the world and sells products in more than 120 countries. Additional information about Basell is available at www.basell.com.
For more information contact Chantal Sohm, Basell Corporate Communications, at
+33 1 55 51 21 19, +33 6 72 68 30 93 or chantal.sohm@basell.com
