Orlando, Fla. — Sabic came to NPE2024 to highlight sustainable materials and materials for electric vehicles.
"Our long-term success is determined by the success of our customers and partners," Sami Al-Osaimi, polymers executive vice president, said at a May 6 press event. "This requires collaboration across the value chain.
"It's required us to refocus on innovation in order to prepare for the future," he added. "And we need to do specifically what our customers want us to do."
Sabic's Stamax-brand long-glass-fiber polypropylene resin is being tested as a barrier solution in EV batteries. The materials can help prevent fire spreading across in batteries, officials said.
In sustainability, Sabic is taking medical plastic waste from Jessa Hospital in Belgium and converting it into pyrolysis oil in an advanced recycling process. If that pilot program is successful,then it can be expanded to other global locations.
In the medical market, Sabic has developed a grade of Valox- brand polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) for use in medical devices for diabetes patients. The material can be used in insulin pumps, glucose monitors and similar devices.
The Americas are "a key strategic market" for Sabic, Al-Osaimi said. "We're moving into a new phase of growth, and the Americas are a big part of it."
In early 2022, Sabic's Gulf Coast Growth Ventures joint venture started production at two new polyethylene resin units in Corpus Christi, Texas. GCGV is a 50-50 joint venture between Sabic and ExxonMobil. The two PE units have combined annual production capacity of almost 3 billion pounds.
In January, Sabic and a Chinese partner announced plans to spend more than $6 billion to build a major plastics and petrochemicals complex in Fujian, China. The firm will partner with Fujian Fuhua Gulei Petrochemical Co. Ltd. to invest $6.4 billion in the Sabic Fujian Petrochemical Complex.
The site will include a mixed- feed steam cracker with annual production capacity of almost 4 billion pounds of ethylene. The complex also will include downstream units making polyethylene, polypropylene, polycarbonate and ethylene glycol. Construction is expected to be completed in 2026.
In Geleen, Netherlands, Sabic is taking six chemical units down for a maintenance turnaround. One of those units — one that makes olefins, including ethylene — will not be restarted. The maintenance happens every six years and is part of "a broader future strategy for the site, which will entail a significant change in the operations of the naphtha cracker complex."
Sabic is majority owned by state-owned oil supplier Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia. Globally, Sabic employs more than 31,000 and is a global supplier of com- modity and engineering resins. The firm is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with U.S. headquarters in Houston.