A NEW plant is to be built at INEOS' manufacturing site in East Yorkshire in the UK. Once built, 300,000 tonnes of vinyl acetate monomer - a crucial component in the manufacture of windscreens, toughened glass, adhesives, coatings, films, textiles and carbon fibre – will once again be flowing from INEOS’ site in Hull.
CEO Graham Beesley said INEOS Oxide was proud to be bringing production of this important raw material back to the UK.
“It’s great news for manufacturing in the region,” he said. “It will not only strengthen UK manufacturing but it will boost exports from the UK to Europe and the rest of the world.”
About six years ago, INEOS was forced to close its vinyl acetate monomer plant in Hull due to cheap imports flooding the UK, mainly from Saudi Arabia and the US, both of which benefited from low-cost raw materials.
But INEOS’ decision to import low-cost shale gas-derived ethane from the US into its site in Grangemouth in Scotland has changed everything.
The ethane will be converted to ethylene in Grangemouth and then piped to the new £150 million plant in Hull.
In March last year INEOS said it had been considering two possible locations for its new plant. One was Hull; the other was in Antwerp, Belgium.
“We were very fortunate to have two great options in Antwerp and Hull,” said Graham.
Work is due to start on the new plant in Saltend, Hull, later this year.