Borealis AG, Vienna, has let a contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Dallas, to complete a feasibility study for the proposed expansion of Borealis’ polypropylene (PP) plants in Belgium.
The feasibility study will assess a series of capacity increases through projects designed to debottleneck Borealis’ existing Belgian PP units to help further strengthen the company’s position as a leading PP provider in Europe, said Alfred Stern, executive vice-president of Borealis Polyolefins.
The potential PP capacity increase would take full advantage of additional propylene supply from a proposed 740,000-tonne/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit at Borealis subsidiary Borealis Kallo NV’s production site in Kallo, Belgium, Jacobs said.
Neither Jacobs nor Borealis disclosed a value or duration of the feasibility study contract, which was awarded under terms of an existing framework agreement between the parties.
Details regarding which Belgian PP units would be debottlenecked or the volume of additional capacity that would come online as a result of the proposed projects have yet to be revealed.
