Another major plant for Jubail

Saudi Butanol (SaBuCo), a joint venture of local petrochemicals firms Saudi Kayan Petrochemical, Sadara Chemical and Saudi Acrylic Acid Company (SAAC), an affiliate of the National Industrialization Co (Tasnee) and Sahara Petrochemicals, is expected to start trial operations at its 2 billion SAR ($533.2 million) plant in Jubail in the third quarter of 2015, according to a statement from Tasnee.

Construction of the plant is ongoing currently, however testing of the plant’s performance will take between three and six months and will test equipment, plant operations and production efficiency through technical licensing and contracts, it said. 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.

Located at Tasnee's petrochemical complex Jubail Industrial City, the butanol plant will serve paints and coatings industry in Saudi Arabia, and is said to be first ever butanol plant in the Middle East.