Ineos Phenol has confirmed its previously announced plans to build a world-scale cumene plant at its site in Marl, Germany. Based on Badger technology, the facility will have a capacity of 750,000 t/y and be completed in 2021.

The company revealed in July 2017 that it was planning a cumene plant in Germany.  Start-up at that time was projected for 2020, with a final investment decision due by the end of 2018. Ineos has not given any reason for the delay in its timing.

The new plant will use existing pipeline connections between Ineos’ phenol and acetone production site in Gladbeck, Germany, the Evonik chemical park in Marl, Germany, and BP’s refinery and cracker complex in Gelsenkirchen, tbhs allowing full feedstock integration. The site also benefits from the Marl harbor waterway connection.

Jorg Harren, Evonik’s site manager for Chemiepark Marl, described the plant as of “utmost importance for the Verbund structure of the entire chemical cluster of the northern Ruhr area.”

Ineos Phenol said the cumene plant will improve the security of raw material supply to its plants in Gladbeck and Antwerp, Belgium, along with supporting customer demand. “Our customers should be confident that we are investing in our business to meet their long-term business needs,” said Ineos Phenol CEO Hans Casier. The company added that it is the world’s largest producer of phenol and acetone and the largest consumer of cumene feedstock.

The project is one of many that Ineos has announced in recent months, including its first-ever investment worth $2 billion in Saudi Arabia, a €2.7 billion cracker and propane dehydrogenation complex in Antwerp, Belgium, and an ethylene oxide and derivatives complex in Chocolate Bayou, Texas, USA.