Basell to increase PP capacity at Italian Spherizone process plant

14-Jun-07

Basell plans to implement a debottlenecking and revamping project for its Spherizone process polypropylene plant in Brindisi, Italy. The upgrade, expected to start in Q1- 2009, is to increase PP capacity by 50,000 tpa. With this, capacity at the plant will increase to 235,000 tpa. This expansion follows a debottlenecking project completed earlier this year that is proving insufficient to meet growing demand for specialty polypropylenes. Specialty PPs are gaining usage in a range of applications, from lightweight food packaging and high transparency films to high modulus gravity pipes. Polypropylene produced by the Spherizone process offers improved properties such as improved clarity, impact, softness and rigidity.