January 20, 2026 15:07

Vioneo has abandoned plans to build a polypropylene plant in Belgium (see article), originally announced in 2024, and will instead construct the 300,000-tonne-per-year bio-methanol-to-polypropylene facility in China.

The Danish company, part of the A.P. Moller group, said the decision was driven by the availability of green methanol and renewable energy in China. 
“The proximity to green methanol supply will enable pricing that works for our customers, as well as supply chain efficiency, expected higher CO2 savings and a faster route to market,” the company said in a statement.

The move represents another setback for Europe’s petrochemical industry, which has faced a wave of plant closures in recent months, only partially offset by new investments. High energy and feedstock costs, coupled with weak demand, are driving a significant reshaping of production capacity across the region.

For the decarbonisation-focused project — once seen as emblematic of Europe’s industrial transition — Vioneo had already selected Lummus Technology’s Novolen process for the polypropylene unit, Honeywell UOP for the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technology, and Wood for the plant’s Front-End Engineering Design (FEED).

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