Sabuco Butanol Unit Ready to Go at Jubail

Sadara Basic Services Company, the wholly owned site management subsidiary of Sadara Chemical Company, the joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical, has completed its analysis of the performance test results of the new 30,000 t/y butanol plant of Saudi Butanol Company (Sabuco) at the Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, site and declared it ready to begin commercial operations.

The green light was given following the successful testing of the plant’s equipment and production efficiency in accordance with the technology licenses and implementation contracts, Sadara Basic Services said.

Sabuco is a three-way joint venture between Sadara, Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company for the sole purposes of owning and operating the plant. The butanol produced will be distributed to the partners in accordance with their tolling and processing agreement.

In December 2015, the first production unit, a 750,000 t/y LLDPE plant using Dow’s solution technology started up at the Saudi site, which is claimed to be the world’s largest chemical complex ever built in a single phase. Altogether, 26 production facilities are planned to be built at the $20 billion complex.