The company Cepsa has just announced the start of construction of an isopropyl alcohol (IPA) plant, a product that is not only found in hydroalcoholic gels, but also in cleaning products for both home and industry. The factory will be installed in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva) and will be the first facility of this type in Spain that uses green hydrogen and that it is capable of replacing the use of raw materials of fossil origin in the production of isopropyl alcohol with sustainable raw materials, which will expand Cepsa Química's platform of more sustainable products, in line with Cepsa's Positive Motion energy transition strategy .
This new plant will guarantee our country access to a constant, quality supply of this essential product for, among others, the medical and pharmaceutical sectors. In addition, it will reduce our dependence on disinfectant products based on isopropyl alcohol from third countries. The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines of the Government of Andalusia, Jorge Paradela, has stressed that Cepsa's new chemical plant in Palos is “a tangible example of how innovation, sustainability and job creation can go hand in hand. promoting economic growth and the well-being of European society”.
The new facility, scheduled for completion by the end of 2025, It will have a production capacity of 80,000 tons per year. It is estimated that the construction of this new plant will require around 400,000 hours of work, including direct and indirect labor, and will cost 75 million euros. For José María Solana, CEO of Cepsa Química, the IPA project “is a very important step in our Next Chemicals in Positive Motion strategy. The facility will be connected to our Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley and, therefore, the activity will be perfectly aligned with our commitment to advance the fight against climate change and accelerate the ecological transition, while providing Spain with a greater supply autonomy in this type of products.”
Synergy
Cepsa's chemical business – and the new IPA plant – will benefit from its proximity to the Andalusian Valley of Green Hydrogen and to the largest second-generation biofuels plant that Cepsa is building, within the framework of a joint venture with Bio-Oils, next to the La Rábida Energy Park in Huelva. The location of the new facility next to the chemical plant and the La Rábida Energy Park will facilitate a high degree of integration between the three facilities and will bring about strong industrial and economic synergies. In this sense, it should be noted that the supply of the acetone necessary for the production of IPA will be made from the Cepsa chemical plant, which will increase its added value, while the hydrogen (raw material) will be provided by the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. .
The construction of this new plant will reinforce the new chemical industry in Spain and at the same time will allow Cepsa to diversify its product portfolio, placing the company in a leading position in the Iberian Peninsula market and turning it into one of the main producers and references for isopropyl alcohol in the European Union. In this sense, the company has been a pioneer in the world in the development of more sustainable LAB and phenol that maintain the same technical characteristics as the traditional product but with a lower carbon footprint. These products, called NextLab and NextPhenol, make up this new portfolio (Next), whose production is based on renewable and recycled raw materials and the use of renewable energy. Cepsa Química has also developed and validated a certification system for this carbon footprint reduction that complies with international standards on the matter.