Saudi Butanol plant starts operations

Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Butanol Co (SABUCO), a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms, has started commercial operations at its plant in Jubail, one of the shareholders said on Sunday. Estimated to cost around 2 billion riyals (Dh1.95 billion, $533 million) when announced in 2012, the project was expected to go on stream in the first quarter of 2015. 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. The project is owned by Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co, Sadara Chemical Co, which is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and The Dow Chemical Co, and Saudi Acrylic Acid Co (SAAC). SAAC is an affiliate of National Industrialisation Co (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemical Co.