Chandra Asri starts up MTBE and B1 plants in Indonesia

PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk has commenced operation of its new methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and butene 1 (B1) plants, first of their kind in Indonesia.

Minister of Industry of Republic of Indonesia, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said: “We need to support the domestic petrochemical industry in Indonesia as it holds an important role to substitute import. In addition, petrochemical companies such as Chandra Asri also attractsnew investors which will bring positive impact to the Indonesian economy.”

According to Ministry of Industry 2018 data, Indonesia still imports its methanol from several countries abroad, including its derivatives such as MTBE and B1.

Chandra Asri President Director, Erwin Ciputra said, “Our priority is to support the Government of Indonesia and the Indonesian industries to ease import burden. With the new plants up and running, we hope to support Indonesia achieve its target in reducing 35% of import by 2022.”

Construction of Chandra Asri’s MTBE and B1 plants was done by Toyo Engineering Corp. and PT Inti Karya Persada Tehnik (IKPT) beginning in 2018. “We extend our apprecation to Toyo and IKPT for completing construction amidst the ongoing pandemicaccording to our operational plan,” Erwin Ciputra added. Both plants are using Lummus Technology.

Chandra Asri recently partnered with PT Pertamina for jointly developing the petrochemical business in Indonesia. The agreement between both the companies was signed on 25 August 2020.