Hungarian oil and petrochemicals company MOL has broken ground on its polyols project in Tiszaújváros. The new plant will produce around 200,000 t/y of polyols with start-up expected in 2021.

The company is investing €1.2 billion in the plant, which includes investment aid from the Hungarian government of €131 million – a combination of corporate tax allowance and cash investment grant. MOL estimates that the plant will contribute around €150 million to its annual earnings.

“This investment project will make MOL Group one of the most important players in the region’s chemical industry, with MOL being the only Central and Eastern European company to control the entire value chain from crude oil extraction to polyol production,” said Zsolt Hernádi.  “Once commissioned in 2021, the plant will further enhance the position of Tiszaújváros in the chemical industry, as the expertise and the new production infrastructure established here may attract additional investors to the area.”

Evonik and Thyssenkrupp are providing their hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide (HPPO) technology for the plant, with Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions building the facility under an engineering, procurement and construction contract that was signed in September 2018.

MOL said the polyols project is one of the cornerstones of its 2030 Enter Tomorrow strategy. Another cornerstone is the synthetic rubber plant that MOL and Japan’s JSR Corp. has previously built at Tiszaújváros. The 60,000 t/y solution polymerization styrene-butadiene rubber facility, which sources butadiene feedstock from MOL’s adjacent plant, officially opened on Mar. 19, 2018.

Under its 2030 Enter Tomorrow strategy, the group aims to expand its petrochemicals chain and produce more valuable products used in the automotive industry as well as for packaging, construction and electronics. The company plans to invest around $4.5 billion until the end of the next decade into growth projects.