Saudi Butanol Company, a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has begun trials in its Jubail plant and expects commercial operations to start in the first half of 2016
The project is owned by group consisting of Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company, Sadara Chemical Company and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC). SAAC is an affiliate of Tasnee and Sahara Petrochemical Company.
Complete tests will take between three and six months at the plant, a statement from Sahara Petrochemical Company has announced.
A statement issued earlier in March had said testing was expected to commence in Q3 2015. The project, estimated to cost around US$534mn, was expected to come on stream in Q1 2015 when it was first announced in 2012.
The plant will have a capacity of 330,000 tonnes a year of n-butanol, a type of alcohol used to make other chemicals, and 11,000 tonnes a year of iso-butanol.
