Petrochemicals group MOL (Budapest / Hungary; www.molgroup.info) has laid the foundation stone for its polyol complex in Tiszaújváros / Hungary. The budget for the project amounts to EUR 1.2 bn, with EUR 131m support from the Hungarian government. Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (Essen; www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com) is constructing the facility.

Start-up of the plant with a capacity of around 200,000 t/y of polyols is planned for 2021. The complex will produce polyols using the HPPO process (propylene oxide from hydrogen peroxide) developed by ThyssenKrupp and Evonik (Essen; www.evonik.com). The project is expected to create 200 jobs and contribute around EUR 150m annually to the Hungarian group’s EBITDA. MOL says it will be the only company in Hungary and Central and Eastern Europe with a value chain from crude oil extraction to polyether polyol production.

Plans for the complex in Tiszaújváros have been in the pipeline for several years – see Plasteurope.com of 22.11.2016. In 2019, McDermott (Houston, Texas / USA; www.mcdermott.com) won the contract to supply the 100,000 t/y propylene plant’s basic engineering and licence for Lummus “OCT” and “CDHydro Deisobutenizer” technology – see Plasteurope.com of 28.05.2019.

Polyols are key raw materials for producing polyurethane, which can be used in industries such as automotive, construction and furniture.