Sadara Chemicals Company Inaugurates Mixed Feed Cracker Unit

Saudi Arabia: Sadara Chemical Company, a joint venture between two business leaders - Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical Company, has inaugurated its first mixed feed cracker (MFC) plant worth USD20 billion. The company is involved in production of a variety of petrochemical products for various downstream application industries. The mixed feed cracker unit consists of 12 furnaces, out of which seven are used for the cracking of ethane and others are utilized to crack naphtha (liquid). The MFC plant is designed to produced approximately 400,000 metric tons of propylene and 1.5 million metric tons of ethylene per year. The petrochemicals produced from the unit would further be utilized in the production of wide range of innovative plastics and chemical products. MFC unit combined with other aromatic chemical units would be used for production of very high purity benzene and toluene. Sadara mixed feed cracker plant is the first of its kind production facility in Saudi Arabia, which would produce basic chemicals as well as use them as feedstock for downstream processes.

TechSci Research depicts that the strategic decision of the Sadara Chemicals Company to start up the first mixed feed cracker unit in Saudi Arabia would positively impact the production of basics chemicals, including benzene and toluene and cater to the growing demand for these chemicals as a raw material for production of a broad range of high purity and specialty chemicals.

According to a recent report published by TechSci Research, “Global Benzene Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”, global benzene market is expected to surpass 46MMT by 2020 on account of continuously increasing demand from various industries using benzene derivatives in their manufacturing processes. Shale gas evolution in the US has increased the availability of ethane, which is a light feedstock used for cracking process. The use of lighter feedstock is hampering the yield of benzene and leading to a tight demand/supply scenario in the global market, due to which the market has become highly competitive and all major players are investing in R&D to improve the quality and properties of the product.