The new facility is being developed as a way to free up the propane currently used at the site. Instead, the feedstock will be converted to propylene through the PDH unit, which can then be converted into polypropylene, which is widely used in the packaging industry.

Ibn Rushd, which is majority owned by Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), has approached technology licence holders such as UOP and CBI Lummus Global for the contract to license their PDH technology for the project.

Once the contract is awarded, the basic engineering process is likely to take up to a year, and tenders for the engineering, procurement and construction element will be issued soon after.

Established in 1993 and commissioned in 1995, Ibn Rushd produces a range of products from ethylene glycol and butane feedstocks. Products include aromatics such as xylene and benzene, purified terephthalic acid, polyester textile chips and bottle grade chips.

The complex is currently undergoing a major project to convert and de-bottleneck existing polymer lines to increase chip capacity by 100,000 tonnes a year (t/y) to 300,000 t/y (MEED 20:7:07).