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The Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) has started exporting acetic acid from its major plant in Jubail, according to a source close to the company.
“The plant is running regularly and we will start exporting our product early. The carbon monoxide plant which is the feedstock of the acetic acid is also running at 100%,” the source said.
The company uses King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail Industrial City to export its product to the Asian market.
Half of the acetic acid production will be utilised as a feed-stock for Sipchem’s vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) plant where the final stages of start-up are expected to take place in late December. The remainder will be made available to the local and international markets.
The annual production capacity of the new plant is 460 000 t/y of acetic acid and 50 000 t/y of acetic anhydride. The technology for the plant was provided by US firm Eastman Chemical.
