Sinar Mas Cepsa started operations on 14 September at its first oleochemicals plant in Indonesia, which will produce fatty alcohols and fatty acids from sustainablyproduced palm kernel oil (PKO). The wholly-owned joint venture between Spain’s Cepsa and Indonesia’s Golden AgriResources (GAR) invested US$355 million over two years in the plant. Cepsa is a multinational oil and gas company and a leader in the production of linear alkylbenzene (LAB) used to make biodegradable detergents. GAR is part of the Indonesian consortium of Sinar Mas businesses and the world’s second largest vertically-integrated palm oil company. The Dumai, Sumatra plant has a production capacity of 160,000 tons/year of fatty alcohol. GAR’s Lubuck Gaung refinery, which is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and located nearby, will supply the plant with sustainable, traceable PKO. “Vegetable-based alcohols, rather than conventional petroleum derivatives, are increasingly in demand as a raw material for personal care products and liquid detergents,” Cepsa said. The plant would primarily focus on markets in Asia and service demand from Sinar Mas Cepsa’s surfactant plant in Germany, which serves markets in Eastern and Western Europe.
(UCAP Bulletin)
Source: The COCOMMUNITY, VOL. XLVII NO. 11, 1 November 2017 - APCC |
