Major investment at Borealis Innovation Headquarters in Linz

12-16-2009: After investing EUR 50 million in the expansion of the international Innovation Headquarters in Linz, Borealis plans an additional investment of EUR 75 million in Upper Austria, setting the next milestone in the development of the plastics region. The actual implementation is subject to authority permissions and proceedings.

With an investment of EUR 75 million Borealis builds a semi-commercial catalyst plant to develop and scale up new catalysts for the production of new polymers. The new catalyst plant will support research in the areas of catalyst development and to further improve processes for catalyst production. The investment in a semi-commercial plant for catalysts in Linz allows Borealis to undertake the necessary development work as well as producing semi-commercial batches for the first phase in the development process. This requires a close alignment with the new, recently started-up Borstar® pilot plant in Schwechat (investment EUR 30 million). The catalysts will be used world-wide.

“In Linz we will do the implementation and development of new catalyst types and develop the required techniques and processes,” says Alfred Stern, Borealis Senior Vice President for Innovation & Technology. “Research for catalyst technology is done in our innovation centre in Porvoo, Finland. Catalysts are needed to build molecular chains during the production of polyethylene and polypropylene and have a significant impact on the features of the final product.”

While Borealis invests in the expansion of its activities in Linz, Johannes Kepler University (JKU) is founding a centre for catalyst and process research.

“Linz is a solid building ground for future looking investments. This is also shown in the professional and close co-operation with JKU which is quickly responding to the requirements and the developments of the plastics industry,” says Gerhard Roiss.