COUNTRY | Saudi Arabia
REGION | Asia
SECTOR | other sector (business)
SUB-SECTORS | buildings and structures
QII Principles | Principle 1 Sustainable Growth & Development
QII Sub-Principles | 1: SDGs, 1: Paris Agreement, 2: Technological innovation, 3: Emissions, 5: Job creation, 5: Capacity and institutional building
Overview
Size: Capacity to produce up to 500 KTA of Pure CO2 product (food grade)
Brownfield
Parties involved (public and private):
- Private: Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)
Timeline
Key dates including procurement, construction, operations
- Construction: Apr 2014
- Mechanical Completion: Apr 2015
- Operations: Aug 2015
Relevance to QII
- The project is masterpiece of Technological innovation to capture and purify raw CO2 from petrochemical process up to Food Grade quality standards
- By doing that, succeeded to prevent CO2 venting to the atmosphere
- Then, the purified CO2 is being used as feedstock for Urea production, Methanol production and also sold as Liquid CO2 for beverages use
- The project has created direct as well as indirect jobs in KSA
- All these direct and indirect benefits are impacting SABIC selected UN SDGs positively and also in line with Paris agreement in the context of reducing GHG emissions from manufacturing processes
Benefits
Expected and realised benefits:
- Jobs: the project has led to 25+ of new jobs (both direct and indirect)
- Sustainability: SABIC has built a mega-plant that can capture up to half a million tons of CO2 annually that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere. Over 11 million trees would need to be planted to capture the equivalent amount. More than that, the CO2 has been reclaimed for agriculture.
- One of the main benefits is the demonstration of the scale of carbon utilization technology and the boost for its further deployment worldwide.
Other benefits include diversification of agriculture industry in the KSA, capacity building.
Unintended consequences: CO2 (liq.) eco system development in KSA sourced from Petrochemical sector
Lessons learned: The project shows how technology can reduce emissions, convert waste CO2 into valuable products, and increase operational efficiency, providing SABIC with both short- and long-term gains.
Metrics
The project KPIs are measured in accordance with GHG Corporate Protocol standards and internal SABIC data quality management processes.
Name of Institution
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)