Cepsa will increase the capacity of its chemical plant in San Roque by 25%

Chemical industry Innovation
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24 April 2018

The technology renovation process will entail an investment of €100 million

Cepsa has decided to implement a technology renewal of its Puente Mayorga chemical plant in San Roque (Cadiz) to increase its production capacity from 200,000 to 250,000 annual tons. This improvement will include the installation of Detal technology, a joint development of Cepsa and the North American company UOP, to modernize and increase efficiency in producing Linear alkylbenzenes (LABs), material used in the production of biodegradable detergents.

Thanks to this renewal process, in which Cepsa will invest €100 million, the company will revitalize this plant. The implementation of Detal technology will enable it to improve product quality, gain efficiency and security, optimize production processes and reduce emissions, given its lower consumption of natural gas and electricity. As a result, Puente Mayorga will improve its position compared with its competitors and Cepsa will attain a global productive capacity of 650,000 tons in 2020, thereby consolidating its international leadership for this product, with a 15% market quota.
 

cepsa

San Roque will be the world's first LAB production plant to abandon production processes based on hydrofluoric acid to switch to Detal technology. Construction will begin in May and will last about two years. During this process, which will entail about 650,000 working hours, 83 new machines will be installed. This will result in the generation of about 250 jobs, with peaks of 400, during the works.


Improved version of Detal technology
José Manuel Martínez, Chemicals Manager of Cepsa, affirms with regards to this operation: “The Puente Mayorga chemical plant is the source of our knowledge of the surfactants market, which we have applied to the rest of our facilities worldwide. Thanks to this project, we will revitalize the factory and strengthen its competitiveness in the market. The plant's increase in production will mainly target markets in Africa, with a high potential for growth: we estimate that between now and 2035, the demand for LAB in these countries will increase 5% annually”.
 
Cepsa and UOP have developed Detal technology since the nineties, used today by companies around the globe. Four of every five new LAB plants are currently built with this technology. Puente Mayorga will have the state-of-the-art version installed, called Detal Plus, which further reduces the consumption of raw materials, with the subsequent improvement of sustainability.