Sadaf, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell Chemicals and Sabic, has announced plans for the construction of a third world-scale styrene plant that will increase current production by more than 60 per cent.

“The new plant will give Sadaf the highest production of styrene of any single site in the world,” said Aman Amanpour, president of Shell Chemicals Arabia and a board member of Sadaf.
Sadaf’s range of products includes ethylene whose total output is 1.2 million tonnes per year (tpy), styrene monomer (1.1 million tpy), ethylene dichloride or EDC (840,000 tpy), caustic soda (670,000 tpy), thanol (330,000 toy) and MTBE or methyl tertiary butyl ether (700,000 tpy).
Discussing other plans in the house journal Shell in the Middle East, Amanpour said a co-generation unit to provide both power and steam to fuel the complex’s operation would come on stream by the middle of 2005. 
“This will take the form of a private IPP (Independent Power Producer) which will be the first such project not only in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia but also in the region,” said the official.
The Sadaf Business Unit markets Shell’s share of Sadaf products all over the world. Logistics and supply operations are managed from Dubai while Sadaf products are distributed directly from the company’s dedicated terminal at the King Fahd International Port near Jubail.
Stating that the ethylene unit at Sadaf was the world’s largest single-train cracker using ethane as a feedstock, Amanpour said the ethane feedstock was supplied to Sadaf via a dedicated pipeline from Saudi Aramco and was a co-product of Aramco’s crude oil production. In the days before the development of Jubail Industrial City, the ethane used to be flared.
At Sadaf, ethylene is the raw material used for the production of styrene monomer, EDC and ethanol. Any excess ethylene is sold to other industrial consumers for their own production purposes.
Styrene monomer is used for the manufacture of styrenic polymers including polystyrene, which is used in a wide range of industrial applications. It goes into the production of automotive accessories and fittings and an extensive range of consumer and household products.
“The main customers for Sadaf’s products are in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US so, basically, the Sadaf Business Unit markets its products on four continents,” said Amanpour.
“The main market for caustic soda is in Australia where it is an important ingredient in the bauxite refining process to produce alumina, which is the raw material used to make aluminium. Caustic soda is also being sold in other markets in Asia and the Americas.
“MTBE is mainly sold to the US but new markets are being developed elsewhere. The main markets for styrene monomer are across Asia with some customers in Europe. Ethanol is sold into the US, Asia and Europe whilst EDC is supplied to major customers in Asia who manufacture VCM and PVC mainly in Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia and China.”
Amanpour named the USI Group as one of the biggest customers for Shell chemicals from the Sadaf complex along with the group’s affiliates Taiwan VCM Corporation and Taita Chemical Company. The Sadaf Business Unit supplies them with a major part of their EDC and styrene monomer requirements.
“Furthermore Shell Chemicals is currently developing other business initiatives with the USI Group which will lead to even more business in China, helping us to further strengthen our business relationship with this all-important customer,” Amanpour said.