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Methanol Chemicals Company (Chemanol)has announced that it has started commissioning its di methyl formamide and pentaerythritol project, located at Jubail Industrial City in the KSA.
The company, formerly known as the Saudi Formaldehyde Chemical Company Limited, said the facility will have a capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of di methyl formamide and 20,000 tpa of pentaerythritol.
Chemanol also said that the technology at the plant has been supplied by the UK-based Davy Process for the di methyl formamide, and Sweden’s Perstorp AB for the pentaerythritol plant.
Chemanol started up its methanol plant, which provides the main feedstock for the firm’s entire product range, in early October.
“We have successfully completed several expansion projects, raising production capacity from an initial 420,000 tpa to nearly 1 million tpa,” Khalid Ibrahim Al- Rabiah, CEO of Chemanol said.
Al-Rabiah also said that one of the major drivers behind the building of the new complex was projected cost savings.
Previously Chemanol bought its methanol feedstock from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) at a non-discounted market price of around US$150 per tonne, but now it will save up to half that cost, thanks to production prices of around $80 per tonne.
“The start-up of our methanol operations will help the company to reduce the production cost of the end products by almost 30%, and increase profitability,” Al-Rabiah said.
