Vioneo: Bio-polymer plant planned in China instead of Belgium

The company Vioneo is abandoning its plans to build a production complex for sustainable plastics in Antwerp and intends to realize the project in China instead.

According to a company statement, a location in China offers better access to bio-based methanol, the most important raw material for the planned production of bio-polymers. This enables more advantageous pricing for customers as well as more efficient supply chains, higher CO2 savings, and a faster market launch.

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According to the release, Vioneo is sticking to the previously planned capacities for a total of more than 300,000 tons of sustainable plastics as well as the previous technology partners for the project. However, a specific location in China has not yet been announced. Previously, the complex was to be built on the site of the Vopak Energy Park in the Port of Antwerp. The required investments were recently estimated at around EUR 1.5 billion.

For the project, the US group Honeywell will provide an MTO (Methanol to Olefins) process for using bio-based methanol to obtain the intermediate products ethylene and propylene. In addition, the US companies Lummus Technology and ECI Group are to supply the technologies for the production of polypropylene (PP) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE).

According to an agreement signed in August last year, Lummus is licensing its "Novolen PP" process for the project, which was optimized as part of the Verdene technology package for PP production from bio-based raw materials (see plasticker news from Aug 26, 2025). Furthermore, the company will take on tasks in the design and engineering of a PP plant with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons and supply the required catalysts. The ECI Group, in turn, is licensing a high-pressure autoclave process to Vioneo for a plant with capacities for around 110,000 tons of LDPE annually (see plasticker news from Sept 09, 2025). ECI's partner in this is the Spanish petrochemical group Repsol, which has the relevant expertise from operating its own LDPE and recycling plants.

Vioneo is a subsidiary of the Danish A.P. Moller Holding and first provided information about the plans to build capacities for the production of sustainable plastics in the fall of 2024.

More information:
www.vioneo.com, www.apmoller.com, www.honeywell.com, www.lummustechnology.com, www.lummustechnology.com

Vioneo, Antwerp, Belgium

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