Today, May 22nd, Repsol Quimica�s new polypropylene plant at the Tarragona petrochemical complex has been inaugurated, with the attendance of the President of the Generalitat (Autonomous Government of Catalonia), Mr. Jordi Pujol, the Minister of Industry and Energy, Mr. Josep Piqu�, and the Chairman of Repsol, Alfonso Cortina, accompanied by other personalities and company executives.

Repsol has invested 16,000 million pesetas in the new polypropylene plant with a nominal production capacity of 190,000 tons per year. With this new plant, Repsol will raise its polypropylene production capacity to 385,000 tons per year, which represents 57% of the installed capacity in Spain and makes it one of the foremost European producers of this plastic.

Polypropylene is the raw material with the greatest growth in this last decade and - given its ample range of applications and its very competitive production costs - it has one of the highest growth rates for the future.

The new propylene plant in Tarragona uses a modern production process, called "Spheripol", and has the possibility of producing the three ranges of basic types: homopolymers, heterophasic copolymers, and Random copolymers. This production is complemented with the possibility of obtaining other polypropylene compounds in an adjacent plant, also belonging to Repsol Qu�mica.

The production of these polypropylene compounds based on the polymers obtained in the new installation, permits Repsol to obtain a range of products as extense as that of other leading companies on the market. From now on, it will be able to produce products ranging from the most conventional grades to those meeting the highest technological requirements. With this ability, Repsol will be able to enter strategic sectors, principally in injection moulding and, particularly, in the automotive sector.

The plant construction has been completed in a very brief time period, 24 months, having employed 1.5 million man-hours in the work. The unit design includes all the necessary measures to assure maximum security and quality, as well as to be environmentally friendly, in line with the rest of the installations of the Tarragona petrochemical complex, whose plants have the total quality certificate ISO-9002 (AENOR).

With the start-up of this plant, Repsol achieves in Tarragona a high grade of integration between its basic petrochemicals and derivatives, greatly improving its competitive position in the sector. Furthermore, the increase in the production of polyolefins of high added value brought about by the new plant, will have a positive impact on the consolidation - of a more profitable and less volatile chemical business for Repsol.

POLYPROPYLENE, PLASTIC for THE FUTURE

Polypropylene is a crystalline polymer which, since the beginning of its commercial production in 1958, has increased its presence on the market until becoming the polyolefin by excellence, due to its versatility in transformation processes, its broad applications portfolio, its competitive costs and its easy recycling.

With a predicted world production capacity for the end of 1998 of 28 million tons, polypropylene leads the world of plastics while continuing to have the greatest future projection.

Polypropylene, following the monomers which enter in its polymerisation, is classified in homopolymers and copolymers. At the same time, the latter, according to the polymerisation process, is classified in Block (heterophasic) and Random.

On the other hand, polypropylene compounds are modifications of polypropylene (homopolymers or copolymers) which create a great variety of new technical plastics with very diverse properties and applications. There are three basic types: polypropylene modified with elastomers; polypropylene reinforced with fibreglass, and polypropylene reinforced with mineral charges (talc, calcium carbonate, barium sulphate, etc.)

The process used by Repsol Quimica�s new plant in Tarragona is called "Spheripol", under the license and technology of Montell ("joint venture" of Shell and Montedison). This process is the most advanced of all those used for the production of polypropylene and, on a worldwide level, already represents 30% of installed production capacity. The "Spheripol" process involves reduced production costs, with the possibility of producing homopolymers as well as copolymers (Block and Random), in addition to a great flexibility in operation, not generating subproducts.

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1. Polypropylene obtained by polymerisation of one monomer, propylene.
2. Polypropylene obtained by polymerisation of two monomers, ethylene and propylene. Depending on the polymerisation process, the copolymers are classified in heterophasic or block (when the polymerisation of each monomer is done in a sequential manner) and Random (when the polymerisation of the monomers is carried out jointly).

Repsol Qu�mica has a long tradition in the production and marketing of polypropylene, which began in the decade of the 60�s with the start-up of a plant in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) with an initial capacity of 10,000 tons per year. This installation gradually increased its capacity until reaching the present capacity of 120,000 tons per year. Subsequently, at the beginning of the 80�s, another plant was installed in Tarragona, already with the "Spheripol" process, which it shared by 50% with one of the major European producers and with a total capacity of 150,000 tons per year.