SABIC Unit Plans World’s Largest CO2 Purification Plant

An affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) announced that it has awarded a construction contract to build the world’s largest carbon dioxide (CO2) purification and liquefaction plant in the Kingdom.

United Jubail Petrochemical Company (United), a manufacturing unit of SABIC, has given the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project to Germany’s The Linde Group, it said in a statement.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The plant will be designed to compress and purify about 1,500 tons per day of raw carbon dioxide coming from ethylene glycol plants. The purified gaseous CO2 will then be supplied through pipes to three SABIC-affiliated companies for enhanced methanol and urea production, the statement said.

Methanol is a basic commodity for the chemical industry, and urea is used for fertilizer production.

The plant will help save an estimated 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year, SABIC stated.

Yousef Al-Zamel, SABIC executive vice president, Chemicals Strategic Business Unit, said: “It will add to SABIC’s business portfolio of industrial gas products. This is the first of many other similar projects to be executed next year.”

The plant will also be capable of producing 200 tons of liquid CO2 per day, which will be stored and later supplied by truck to food and beverage outlets.

This is the first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) project undertaken in Saudi Arabia.