Expansions: Indian Oil licenses LyondellBasell tech for PE plant at Paradip; Alpla opens 2nd plant in Thailand

Polyolefin technologies licensor LyondellBasell (LYB) says that Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) has selected its Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (Hostalen ACP) technology for a new 500 kilotonnes/year high-density polyethylene (HDPE) facility in Paradip, India.

The new HDPE plant will be integrated into IOCL's Paradip complex, one of India's largest integrated refinery-petrochemical complexes.

Located on the eastern coast of India in the state of Odisha, the Paradip facility plays a strategic role in serving the growing polymer market in the Indian subcontinent. The US$7 billion complex, which includes a 15 million tonnes/year refinery, will benefit from the addition of this HDPE unit to its existing petrochemical operations.

"This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to building long lasting partnerships that address our customers' unique needs while contributing to global solutions," said Patrik Schneider, Director of Global Licensing at LYB. " The low-pressure slurry HDPE process is already well known to the Indian market and the resins are much appreciated by converters across all sectors."

This marks the eighth technology license agreement between LYB and IOCL, further fostering the relationship between the two companies. In total, more than 2,500 kilotonnes/year of polyolefin capacity have now been licensed, with the other licenses having been installed at IOCL's Paradip but also at the Panipat sites. IOCL not only operates Hostalen ACP process technology but is also a major Spheripol PP process technology operator in India.

The new plant will utilise LYB Avant Z501 and Avant Z509-1 catalysts to produce a comprehensive range of multi-modal HDPE products. The Hostalen ACP process enables the use of a single catalyst family based on Ziegler chemistry to produce the full range of resins, thereby avoiding the production of lower-value transition products.

The process technology produces high-performance, multi-modal HDPE resins that set industry standards for stiffness-to-toughness balance, impact resistance, and stress cracking resistance. These advanced materials serve critical applications in infrastructure pipes but also sets a standard in film, blow moulding, and caps & closure manufacturing, offering significant processing advantages to end-users.

In other news, packaging/recycling specialist Alpla is expanding in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region and opening a second location in Thailand. The 24,000 sq m plant in Chachoengsao, near Bangkok, combines all production technologies, technical centre and STUDIOa, the one-stop-shop for designing new packaging solutions with customers. Its first plant is in Prachinburi.

With its second location in Thailand, Alpla says it is multiplying its production capacity in the country. Chachoengsao is replacing Prachinburi as the headquarters and expanding the portfolio to include injection moulding (IM) and one-step injection stretch-blow moulding (ISBM) technologies.

Alpla is going to manufacture plastic bottles, preforms, matching closures and injection-moulded parts in Chachoengsao using all core technologies. One focus is on one-step ISBM and injection moulding, which are two newly introduced technologies.

“The all-in-one concept strengthens our leading role as a system provider for safe, affordable and sustainable plastic packaging from a single source. Chachoengsao combines technological diversity, the highest quality and customer service under one roof. In this way, we wish to expand our market share and unlock new segments,” says Roland Wallner, Alpla Managing Director Region Asia Pacific (APAC).

All production lines have been producing in series since the beginning of 2025. More than 190 skilled workers are employed in Chachoengsao. The new location in the Bangkok metropolitan region stands out for its customer proximity and optimal connections.

At its first plant in Prachinburi, Alpla will concentrate fully on extrusion blow moulding (EBM) in the future.

In 2022, Alpla consolidated its business in Southeast Asia and China to form the new Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. That same year, the company entered recycling as a joint venture partner of Thai company PTT Global Chemical. The joint recycling plant Envicco in Rayong province supplies 30,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET material (rPET) and 15,000 tonnes of recycled HDPE material (rHDPE) annually.

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