Alujain awards FEED contract for Saudi PDH, PP plants

Saudi joint stock petrochemical producer Alujain has awarded South Korean engineering firm Samsung a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for its $2bn propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) project in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

The new project will have a 600,000 t/yr PDH plant and 500,000 t/yr PP plant.

The contract awarded to Samsung is worth $19.4mn. Samsung will also be responsible for utilities and offsite requirements for the plant. FEED work for the project will take place at Samsung's headquarters in Seoul, South Korea and is expected to be completed in May 2024.

Alujain first announced the project in November 2022 when Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy approved feedstock allocation for the construction of the PDH and PP plants in the Yanbu industrial complex. It will also produce around 25,000 t/yr of saleable hydrogen.

The new capacities are an expansion of Alujain's 400,000 t/yr PP plant and 400,000 t/yr PDH plant in Yanbu. These are operated by its subsidiary National Petrochemical Industrial (Natpet).

Alujain in May selected petrochemical technology provider Lummus' C3 Catofin PDH technology to produce propylene at the new PDH plant. The existing PDH plant operated by Natpet uses US engineering firm Honeywell's UOP Oleflex technology.

Alujain in the same month also chose European petrochemical firm LyondellBasell's Spherizone process technology line for the new PP plant. Natpet's current PP pant operates Lyondellbasell's Spheripol process technology line.

Alujain expects commercial operations of the new project to begin in the first half of 2026.

By Matthew Rajendra