Repsol Selected LyondellBasell's Spherizone Technology

LyondellBasell today announced that Repsol has selected LyondellBasell’s leading polypropylene (PP) technology for the expansion of their existing facility. The 300 kiloton (KTA) Spherizone plant will be built in Repsol’s existing industrial complex in Sines, Portugal.

“Being able to produce added-value polymer grades on a benchmark cost basis is of increasing importance to our licensees, and our Spherizone technology is widely recognized as meeting those industry needs.” said Neil Nadalin, Director of Licensing at LyondellBasell. Nadalin added, “We are very excited to announce that Repsol has again chosen LyondellBasell as licensor for their polypropylene expansion in Europe. Repsol’s choice of the Spherizone process for their Sines integrated petrochemicals site shows confidence in the technology to make superior polypropylene products serving a demanding and evolving polymer market.”

According to José Luis Bernal, Repsol Química Executive Director, “With this new PP plant in our Sines industrial complex, we will significantly increase our polypropylene production capacity for highly differentiated applications. Furthermore, thanks to its privileged location and new logistics facilities, its connection with the European market will be enhanced while reducing the carbon footprint during distribution.” The Spherizone multi-zone circulating reactor (MZCR) provides a unique and innovative platform to manufacture polypropylene products with novel architecture and enhanced product properties. With this plant, more than 25 Spherizone plants have been licensed worldwide.

The plant will commence operation using LyondellBasell’s Avant ZN catalyst.

New licensees take advantage of LyondellBasell’s in-house expertise of continuous production improvement, continuous product development and catalyst know-how, by optionally joining our Technical Service program.

In addition to the Spherizone process technology, LyondellBasell’s portfolio of licensed polyolefin processes and catalysts includes:

• Spheripol – The leading polypropylene (PP) process technology with more than 30 million tons of licensed capacity. With globally recognized quality grades featuring leading monomer yield and investment costs to make it the technology of choice.
• Hostalen – Leading low-pressure slurry process for the production of high-performance multimodal HDPE.
• Lupotech – The market leader on high pressure technology offers, with its high conversion rates and effective heat recovery system, the lowest operating and investment costs for the production of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers.
• Spherilene – Flexible gas phase process technology for the production of LLDPE, MDPE and HDPE.
• Metocene PP – Innovative add-on technology for the production of specialty polypropylene products using single-site catalyst systems
• Avant – Advanced Ziegler-Natta, including non-phthalate, chromium and metallocene catalysts for entire range of polyolefin production.