Sabic’s new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bi-modal slurry plant, the LD6 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, is up and running, making available commercially Sabic’s Vestolen A pipe grades.

Sabic said its Vestolen A family offered properties such as easy processability as well as excellent pipe performance with regards to reliability and safety. “With the LD6, Sabic is ready for the future HDPE market: The LD6 secures future product supply, enables high-end product innovations and ensures a more environment friendly production process,” it said.
Highlighting Sabic’s focus on sustainability, Dieter Hollmann, Business Unit director for HDPE, remarked: “Particularly in this turbulent time of economical crisis, sustainability has a high priority on our agenda. The increasingly more challenging global environment demands us to look for practical solutions that optimise the business benefits of sustainable manufacturing. Our LD6 is the living proof that Sabic is committed to exploring the opportunities.”
The new plant reduces operating costs, improves operational effectiveness and increases resource utilisation. In comparison to a traditional HDPE plant, Sabic’s LD6 reduces for example electricity usage by 8 per cent and air emissions by 85 per cent, the company said.
The new plant will cover production of 250,000 tonnes per annum. “We’ve modified the basic licensed technology in order to obtain a larger production capability window and higher production flexibility,” said Jean Engels, business manager, HDPE. “Moreover Sabic is using its own proprietary catalyst technology, securing consistent high product quality.”
The production technology is furthermore designed to enable high-end product developments. “In the near future we’ll expand our portfolio with a new-grade family pushing the sustainability borders even further,” said Engels.
The new Sabic HDPE family will cover market segments that require improved sagging performance during pipe extrusion and better slow crack growth performance for advanced pipe line installation technologies like sand-less embedding, re-lining, burst lining and directional drilling.