Polyolefins

The polyolefin products manufactured by Borealis form the basis of many plastics applications that are an intrinsic part of our daily lives. Borealis polyolefins have a role to play in saving energy along the value chain and promoting more efficient use of natural resources.

Base chemicals

Borealis produces a wide range of base chemicals such as melamine, phenol, acetone, ethylene and propylene for use in numerous and diverse industries, as well as fertilizers and technical nitrogen products.

Fertilizers

Borealis supplies over five million tonnes of fertilizers and technical nitrogen products each year via its Borealis L.A.T distribution network. Borealis L.A.T has 60 warehouses in Europe and an inventory capacity of over 700 kilotonnes. Its distribution network stretches from its headquarters in Linz along the Rhine and Danube all the way from the Atlantic to the Black Sea. There are subsidiaries all across Europe: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria. In Germany, Italy and France, dedicated L.A.T sales representatives work on-site for customers.

Borealis operates fertilizer production plants in Austria, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. In France, Borealis is the largest producer of nitrogen fertilizers, with three production facilities in Grand-Quevilly, Grandpuits and Ottmarsheim, as well as a storage site at La Rochelle. Borealis sites are located in important grain-producing regions.

In 2013, Borealis acquired a majority interest in Rosier SA, a mineral fertilizer producer with plants in Belgium and the Netherlands. At present, Borealis has a 77.4% holding in Rosier. With the recently announced world-scale ammonia project in the United States, Borealis continues its ambitious growth strategy in the fertilizer business.^[7]

Borstar proprietary technology

Borstar is Borealis' proprietary technology for manufacturing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).^[8]

Borouge

Borouge is Borealis’ joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Its facility is in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi (UAE) and consists of 3 facilities:

Borouge 1 was founded in 2001 and has an ethane-based cracker for production of 600.000 tonnes ethylene per year and two PE lines with a combined capacity of 580.000 tonnes/year and utilises Borealis' Borstar PE technology.

Borouge 2 was a major expansion project complete in 2010 which tripled the annual capacity of polyolefin capacity in Ruwais to 2 million tonnes/year.

Since its completion in 2016 the Borouge 3 plant expansion makes Borouge the world’s largest integrated polyolefins complex. The additional 2.5 million tonnes of polyolefins capacity yield a total Borouge capacity of 4.5 million tonnes, and a combined Borealis and Borouge capacity of 8 million tonnes.^[9]

ADNOC and Borealis moved to the pre-FEED phase for the construction of the Borouge 4 complex, which was slated to come on stream around 2023. Borouge 4 encompasses a mixed feedstock cracker, using existing feedstock available in Abu Dhabi and downstream derivatives units for both polyolefin and non-polyolefin products.^[9]

Borealis Brasil

Borealis Brasil S.A. is a joint venture between Borealis (80%) and the Brazilian Braskem (20%). Located in Itatiba and Triunfo in Brasil and formed in 1999. It serves the automotive industry in South America.^[10]

Total

The French oil company Total joined with Canada’s Nova Chemicals and Austria’s Borealis (themselves in a joint venture known as Novealis) to build a $1.7 billion ethylene cracker plus a polyethylene plant, adjacent to Total's Port Arthur refinery in Texas. The cracker, also known as Bay-Pol, has 1 million metric tons per year of capacity, with an ethane cracker feeding two polyethene units^[11][12]

Acquisition mtm

In July 2016, Borealis acquired one of Europe's largest manufacturers of post-consumer polyolefin recyclates – mtm Plastics GmbH and mtm Compact GmbH.

mtm is able to process PO post-consumer plastic waste (also mixed and inferior) and converts around 70,000 tonnes of this raw material annually into recyclates. mtm uses mixed packaging, bulky household and industrial waste as raw materials.

mtm's recyclates are mainly used in injection moulding and extrusion processes. Typical applications: Containers and transport packaging, household goods, products for the building sector or lawn grids.^[13]

Acquisition Ecoplast

In August 2018, Borealis announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling GmbH, an Austrian plastics recycler. Based in Wildon, Austria, Ecoplast processes around 35,000 tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste from households and industrial consumers every year, turning them into LDPE and HDPE recyclates.^[14]