Oleon to build new fatty acid plant

After Oleons fatty acid installation facility was struck by fire in January, the companys Board of Directors decided to build a completely new fatty acid plant on a nearby piece of land a month later. Though a column of the main distillation unit with a yearly distillation capacity of 110,000 tons was totally destroyed, the glycerine distillation, the fatty alcohols plant and the brand new biodiesel plant were not affected by the fire and have not lost a single day of production. The new plant, which will be on stream in early 2008 consists of a new splitting tower with a capacity of 400 tons per day, a new distillation tower of 350 tons per day and a new hydrogenation unit with a capacity of 180 tons per day. Investment is estimated at more than 30 million (US$39.74 million). The strength of Oleon in Ertvelde is the economies of scale. Through the loss of the distillation tower, these economies of scale were broken but by rebuilding a bit bigger than before, we will have transformed this calamity into an opportunity, said Chris Depreeuw, managing director. (March 12, 2007)