Ethydco advances $100m butadiene rubber plant

Cairo – Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Co. (Ethydco) has reportedly progressed its project to build a $100-million (€98 million) polybutadiene rubber factory in Alexandria, Egypt,

The company has awarded a consortium of Petrojet and Saipem the contract to build the 36-kilotonne-per-annum plant, said Egypt Today in a 4 June report.

In its project review issued in February, Ethydco said it ‘started procedures’ around executing the synthetic rubber plant, which will process butadiene being produced by the company.

The facility, it said, would convert the feedstock into materials for car tires and other rubber products – instead of exporting it as a raw material.

Ethydco added that it had identified customers “willing to have distribution agreements” in line with growing global demand for polybutadiene.

Ethydco launched the tender process for construction of the butadiene rubber plant in March 2018, saying the project would take 24 months to complete.

The unit will be built on the site of Ethydco production facility in Alexandria and has been billed by the company as the first PBR factory in Egypt and Africa.