Frequently
Asked Questions

Today, ethylene is produced in two ways: ethane-based and petroleum-based (naphtha). Today, naphtha is the most widely used raw material in Europe. Project ONE, however, will work on the basis of ethane, a by-product of natural gas.

Ethane is today the most efficient feedstock for ethylene production. This is because the molecular structure of ethane already closely approximates that of ethylene. Naphtha is less selective for ethane: its cracking releases many more by-products. To produce 1.45 million tonnes of ethylene, our cracker consumes 1.9 million tonnes of ethane, while a naphtha cracker needs 4.8 million tonnes of naphtha. That’s more than double.

Moreover, crude oil has to undergo a lot of refining steps before it can be used as naphtha. Ethane production, as in Project ONE, emits less than half the CO2 compared to the naphtha-based alternative for this reason, among others.

To trigger the chemical reaction of cracking, you need a lot of heat and thus energy.  Project ONE will get this energy from the hydrogen automatically released during ethane cracking. With this, we can already fill 60% of the heat requirement. In petroleum, there are on average only 2 hydrogen atoms per carbon, in ethane there are 3. So in a naphtha cracker, you will always have to sacrifice part of the petroleum as fuel to make the cracking process possible. With ethane, you choose the most energy-efficient production process, which contributes to much lower CO2 emissions.

INEOS also has its own naphtha crackers, which play an important role for the circular economy with chemical recycling and bio-based feedstock. However, for the production of pure ethylene, naphtha crackers are not as efficient as the Project ONE ethane cracker, so this is the best and most environmentally friendly way to produce pure ethylene. Instead of talking about a “fossil lock-in”, let’s talk about a “naphtha lock-in”. Project ONE’s ethane cracker will reshuffle the market by making CO2 more expensive for the oldest and most polluting installations.

Fuels are burned for heating or transport, for example. In contrast, raw materials or feedstock are at the basis of a production process and are therefore not burned but used to create value-added products.

Project ONE uses ethane as its feedstock. More than 88% of the carbon in the feedstock ends up in products that retain this carbon and is therefore not emitted.

Ethane is the right feedstock to produce ethylene with the smallest carbon footprint. It replaces ethylene produced in Europe in older, more carbon-emitting plants that use naphtha as a feedstock. Project ONE’s carbon emissions are not even half of the 10% best European steam crackers today, we are doing three times better than the average cracker.

The large volumes of hydrogen released during the ethane cracking process will be repurposed by INEOS as a low-carbon fuel instead of natural gas. As much as 60% of the energy requirements of the crackers and steam boilers can thus be met without recourse to fossil sources.

Project ONE will convert ethane to ethylene. Ethylene is one of chemistry’s main building blocks from which many products are constructed that are essential in everyday life: building materials, medical applications, clothing, windmill components, light packaging materials, lightweight parts for cars, and many more.

Want to know more? Watch the video on the production of drinking water pipes or read why ethylene is your sports shoe’s biggest supporter.

Construction of Project ONE is well underway and the installation is expected to be operational by the end of 2026.

Antwerp, and by extension Flanders, will greatly benefit from the realization of Project ONE. The project will further strengthen the future of chemistry in the region and enrich the existing chemical cluster.

In addition, construction of the site will require millions of man-hours. Once Project ONE is operational, it will employ approximately 450 people (300 high-quality full-time jobs and 150 permanent contractor jobs on site) directly. Project ONE’s activities will also create employment indirectly: every job on the site will generate 5 additional jobs at producers, suppliers, maintenance services, engineering firms, and so on.

All recent major chemical investments have been made in Asia, the Middle East or the United States – which threatened to make Europe dependent on these other parts of the world. Project ONE will make European chemistry more competitive and have a positive effect on employment and prosperity in Antwerp and Flanders.

Using state-of-the-art technologies, Project ONE will become the most energy-efficient production site in Europe (compared to similar European plants), with a substantially smaller footprint. Project ONE will generate almost one and a half million tons of ethylene – an essential building block of the chemical industry. And it will do this with less than half of the CO₂ emissions than the 10% best-performing steam crackers in Europe.

If we compare the Project ONE ethane cracker with all other European crackers within the European Emission Trading System (ETS), we see that we are literally pushing the benchmark. In the steam cracker category, Project ONE emits 0.29 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of product, putting it at 43% of the benchmark (0.68 tonnes). The benchmark is determined by the 10% best-performing production sites. Once our ethane cracker goes online, it will affect the benchmark, which will prompt other players to make additional sustainable investments or they will have to pay more for emission allowances.

Jonas Byns, Project ONE’s lead process engineer, explains how that works in this video

In the last 20 years, Europe’s share of the global chemical sector has been cut In half. Moreover, for several years now, the European chemical sector has been lagging behind in terms of new investments. Therefore, INEOS made the conscious decision to respond to the growing demand for chemical products by building a state-of-the-art site in Europe. Antwerp was chosen because of the historical connection with our birthplace.

Project ONE will use the latest production technologies which enables it to significantly reduce its impact on the environment and lower its carbon footprint as compared to the current ethylene production in Europe. This technological renewal is a major step towards a more sustainable chemical industry.

With Project ONE, INEOS is building a new ethane cracker. In addition, the site will be equipped with the necessary infrastructure and utilities, including a steam and power generation plant and a quay for loading and unloading ships. There will also be a new office building on the site, warehouses for spare parts and maintenance,…

The ethane cracker which will produce ethylene – an essential building block for numerous high-quality products in the automotive, construction, energy and medical sectors (among others). For example, pipes for transporting drinking water and gas, insulation materials, textiles, solar panels, windmill lubricants and blades, sterile packaging, MRI scanners, recyclable packaging, and lightweight parts for cars.

INEOS was founded more than 20 years ago in Antwerp. And since then, we have maintained good relationships with the city and the port. We are strongly convinced that the port of Antwerp – with its entrepreneurship, logistics Infrastructure and well-trained people – is the perfect base for our activities.

Moreover, the port of Antwerp’s location is one of its greatest assets. The direct deep-sea access, the existing pipeline network, and an ecosystem where cross-pollination with sector colleagues is encouraged, make the port of Antwerp unique.

For these reasons, INEOS continues to invest in Antwerp. With the arrival of Project ONE, we are strengthening our presence and increasing the effectiveness of Europe’s chemical sector.

Project ONE thus also plays an important role in keeping production in Antwerp and Europe and provides greater strategic autonomy. With Project ONE, we can produce ethylene here sustainably, competitively and efficiently, which in turn allows other companies to remain competitive with the products they make – and with a lower footprint. In chemistry, there is also such a thing as a short supply chain in which companies organise themselves as efficient clusters that exchange residual flows and raw materials. So the question is do we want a primary industry here in Europe or would we rather import these products (and their derivatives) from regions with less strict environmental standards?