Polyolefins producer Borealis has awarded a contract to Jacobs Engineering to carry out a feasibility study for its proposed second propane dehydrogenation (PDH) at Kallo in Belgium. The value of the contract was not disclosed. As part of the study, Jacobs is preparing a front-end-loading stage 2 conceptual design package for the outside battery limit areas of the plant. It is also complementing the process design package for the inside battery limit areas, which is being prepared by technology provider Honeywell UOP.

The study is scheduled to complete by mid-2017. The plant’s targeted annual capacity is 740,000 t and start-up has been potentially set for the second half of 2021. A final investment decision is expected in the third quarter of 2018. Jacobs’ senior vice president chemicals, Mark Bello, said the contract award is the result of its long-standing relationship with Borealis as well as its previous experience of working at the Kallo site.

Separately, Borealis has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Algerian industrial group Asmidal to evaluate opportunities to jointly develop a melamine plant in Algeria. A feasibility study will be performed in the coming months with a final investment decision expected during 2017. Borealis is Europe’s second largest producer of melamine, behind Dutch group, OCI Melamine.