7 July 2017
DETAILS
has started up production of ethylene1
using ethane feedstock, which is extracted from natural gas
and is significantly cheaper than oil-derived feedstock.
Total has invested nearly $60 million
to revamp one of the platform’s two steam crackers2
and to adapt the site’s terminal to enable
the import of 200,000 tons of ethane per year
by ship from Norway.
The project optimizes supply by providing flexibility
to use either
ethane, butane or naphtha as feedstock;
advantaged feedstock could therefore account for
more than 50% of supply.
The project is part of a wider upgrade of the Antwerp facility
that also includes
* the construction of a new refining complex
- to convert larger volumes of heavy fuel oil into light products
for which there is growing demand
* as well as a unit to process refinery off-gas
for use as petrochemical feedstock.
The platform upgrades are expected
to be completed in the second half of 2017.
View from the top of the Antwerp refinery, Belgium
Located in the city’s port area,
the Antwerp refining and chemicals facility
has three production sites,
forming an integrated platform for
* both refining (338,000 barrels per day)
* and petrochemicals (1.1 million tons per year of ethylene).
View from the top of Total Polymers Antwerp, Belgium.
The platform produces various petroleum products,
such as heavy fuel oil, gasoline, LPG, diesel and jet fuel.
It also manufactures base chemicals
— olefins, C4 fractions and aromatic hydrocarbons —
some of which are used
to make polymers (high-density polyethylene).
The Antwerp platform employs around 1,700 people.
Its products are used
in a number of consumer and industrial applications,
such as packaging and automotive components.
1 Base for plastics
2 Steam cracking is a petrochemical process
that uses petroleum or gas derivatives
to produce monomers (ethylene and propylene),
bases for the plastics industry (polyethylene and polypropylene)
Bernard Pinatel,
President, Total Refining & Chemicals
“The Antwerp project is part of Total’s strategy of upgrading
its major integrated platforms and expanding
its petrochemicals business to take advantage of low cost feedstock.
The Group recently launched two such projects on its giant sites
in the United States and South Korea,”
“The Antwerp investment makes the site
more flexible and opens access to the most competitive feedstock.”
Contact us
Mail : presse@total.com
Tél. : +33 1 47 44 58 53
Fax : +33 1 47 44 58 24
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