Just weeks after announcing a $2 billion expansion program for polyolefins in Europe, Ineos has revealed it is also planning to build a world-scale cumene plant in Germany. An exact location and capacity details have not been given but Ineos Phenol’s CEO, Hans Casier, said a full study of investment options will be completed by the end of 2017.

The new facility will support customer demand and improve the security of raw material supply to Ineos’ phenol and acetone plants in Gladbeck, Germany, and Antwerp, Belgium. Start-up of the plant, which will use technology from US firm Badger, is scheduled for sometime in 2020.

Ineos Phenol operates one of the world’s largest single-train cumene plants in Pasadena, Texas, USA, which is also based on the Badger process. Ineos lays claim to being the world’s largest consumer of cumene, as well as the world’s biggest producer of phenol and acetone.

Under plans announced in mid-June, the Swiss-headquartered group will build a 750,000 t/y propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant somewhere in Europe as well as expand capacity of its crackers in Grangemouth, UK, and Rafnes, Norway, to more than 1 million t/y each. Once completed, the projects will increase the group’s feedstock self-sufficiency and reduce its dependence on merchant markets.

Ineos Oxide also disclosed in early July that it has decided to proceed with an engineering study into producing various oxo-chemical derivatives, following the purchase of Arkema’s share in joint venture Oxochimie. Potential locations for a plant include Zwijndrecht, Belgium; Dormagen, Germany; or Lavéra, France.