US catalysts supplier WR Grace has completed the first phase of construction of the Middle East’s first fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) catalysts manufacturing plant. The plant is expected to cost $150mn and is being built in the Kizad industrial zone 70km northeast of the city of Abu Dhabi, adjacent to the port of Khalifa.

Grace has now commissioned the plant’s logistics terminal and adjacent storage silos and has begun detailed engineering of the manufacturing unit. The factory is expected to begin operations in 2018, serving refineries “throughout the Middle East and potentially other regions.” (CONTINUED - 276 WORDS)