UAE’s Adnoc and Saudi Aramco’s AramcoTech unit have opened the Non-Metallic Innovation Center at Cambridge in the UK with local R&D specialist TWI. The center will develop mainly plastics-based materials for applications ranging from durable pipelines to lightweight car components. Adnoc chief technology officer Alan Nelson says that the development of new non-metallic materials “creates new markets for crude and refined products.”
Both Adnoc and Aramco are developing mixed-feed crackers to enable them to produce a broader range of chemicals than can be produced in ethane crackers, enabling them to target specialty chemicals markets (MEES, 15 March). Aramco recently signed a memorandum of understanding with US services firm BHGE to build a JV plant in Saudi Arabia to produce reinforced thermoplastic piping for use in applications such as infield flow lines and downhole tubing (MEES, 5 July). (CONTINUED - 138 WORDS)