Total Petrochemicals has started up a refurbish styrene unit at its Gonfreville facility in France

Work on the facility near Le Havre took around 18 months to complete and was part of a restructuring that consolidated Total Petrochemicals’ styrene business at the Gonfreville complex, resulting in the closure of its unit at Carling, France.

Gonfreville’s styrene capacity has been increased by 210,000 tonnes per year to 600,000 tonnes per year but the firm’s overall volume has been cut by about 120,000 metric tons per year. The company said because of its new reactors, the styrene unit's energy efficiency has increased 30%, reducing carbon emissions from styrene production processes by a similar percentage. The cost of adapting the site’s infrastructure and improving safety and environmental standards was €20m.