History of Jurong Island

History of Jurong Island

Jurong Island is a man-made island located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore, off Jurong Industrial Estate.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, three oil companies decided to house their facilities on the islands - Esso in Pulau Ayer Chawan, Singapore Refinery Company in Pulau Merlimau and Mobil Oil in Pulau Pesek. These three oil companies became the pioneers of Singapore's petroleum industry.



In the 1980s, when the Singapore Government identified chemicals as a sector that could contribute significantly to the nation's economic growth, it became the natural choice to develop these islands into a petrochemicals hub.

Also, in the1980s, after a decade of rapid industrialisation, industrial land was growing scarce on Singapore mainland. The idea of joining the southern islands off Jurong to form one colossal island to create more industrial land was therefore conceived.

In 1991, JTC Corporation (formerly Jurong Town Corporation) was appointed the agent of the Jurong Island project. JTC planned and coordinated with various government agencies in providing the necessary infrastructure and services to the island.

Physical land reclamation began in 1995, and Jurong Island was officially opened in October 2000. From the 991-hectare land area of the original seven islets, Jurong Island currently has a total land area of 3,200 hectares.

Jurong was chosen because the sea around Jurong is deep and accessible; land was easy to acquire because it was rural and state-owned; few people lived there, so it was easy to relocate them; and there were low hills of the Jurong Formation which could be used to fill in the swampy lowlands and the shallow coastal waters.

Jurong Island was officially declared opened by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on 14 October 2000. The opening marks the completion of a plan by the government to develop Jurong Island into a premier hub for the chemical industry in the Asia Pacific. So far, the island has attracted S$21 billion in investments from 61 companies that plan to capitalise on the optimal concentration of the fully integrated petroleum, petrochemical and chemical industries there.

Jurong Island is currently linked to the main island by a 2.3 km causeway known as the Jurong Island Highway, opened in March 1999.

Social and Economic reasons for the creation of Jurong Island

Jurong Island embodies Singapore's vision of developing a strong and vibrant Global Chemical Hub to take us into the next century.

Our vision was to bring together a collection of upstream and downstream petrochemical plants that supply one another, create synergies for each other, and make viable the whole complex ecology of different operations and products, where a single plant could not survive.

The vision for Jurong Island is to develop it into a world-class(safest and cleanest) chemicals hub in the Asia-Pacific region

Jurong Island was created to provide greater convenience and value for the chemical industry

Jurong Island embodies the government’s industry cluster strategy, where industrial policy is targeted not at the level of individual industries, but at industry clusters, so as to reap the positive network externality effects .


The vision of wanting to turn Jurong Island into a symbol of National Enterprise

Jurong Island stands as a symbol of our national enterprise. It demonstrates the vision and the will to succeed against all odds which have enabled us to create the world's third largest petrochemical facility out of coral reefs and a scattering of small islands.

Polyethylene

General Information

Polyethylene is produced in many companies in Jurong Island, including Exxonmobil and Shell Chemicals. Polyethylene is the most popular plastic in the world, and it is heavily used in consumer products (over 60 million tons worldwide every year)

Polyethylene is a polymer consisting of long chains of the monomer ethylene. A molecule of polyethylene is a long chain of carbon atoms with two atoms attached to each carbon atom. Below are the molecular formulae of polyethylene in two forms.

Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Production of polyethylene

There are two common types of polyethylene: high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). Both types are commercially produced by polymerization of ethane (C2H4).

Production of LDPE by addition polymerization requires temperature ranging from 100-300oC and very high pressure of 1500-3000 atmospheres. Oxygen or an organic peroxide such as dibutyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide or diethyl peroxide is needed as initiator. An initiator is a substance which is added in small quantities and is decomposed by light or heat to produce a free radical (R.). A free radical is formed when a covalent bond is broken and a bonding electron is left on each part of the broken molecule. Since the O-O covalent bond is weak, free radicals are easily formed from oxygen or peroxides. Benzene or chlorobenze is used as the solvent. Water or other liquids may be added to dissipate the heat of reaction as the polymerization reaction is highly exothermic.

HDPE can also be produced by addition polymerization. It requires temperature above 300oC and 1 atmosphere pressure (101.3kPa). Aluminium-based metal oxide catalyst is needed. Moreover, the ethene (ethylene) monomer is fed with a paraffin or cycloparaffin diluent (diluting agent). After polymerization the polymer (polythene) is recovered by cooling or by solvent evaporation.

Besides addition polymerization, HDPE can also be produced by coordination polymerization. Temperature 50-75oC and slight pressure are required. A coordination catalyst is prepared as a colloidal suspension by reacting an aluminium alkyl and titanium chloride (TiCl4) in a solvent such as heptane (C7H16). When the polymerization is completed, the catalyst is destroyed by adding water or alcohol to the reaction mixture.

Applications of polyethylene

Polyethylene is one of the world’s most widely utilized thermoplastics. The most important application is its use in piping system. Today we have many kinds of pipes, such as polyethylene pipes, HDPE pipes, polyethylene slotted pipes, polyethylene smooth pipes and pipes for pressure systems. They are widely used in industry. The applications include steel pipe coating, pipeline, polyethylene cables, sewage pipes, cable jacketing, pipelines corrosion protection and anti-corrosion coating tapes.

Now let us focus on a few uses and look at why they are suitable for these applications. Polyethylene pipes are made to transport oil. The advantage is that it is a flexible, tough and lightweight piping product which is suitable for oil transporting. Polyethylene pipes can accept repetitive pressure surges preventing pipe bursting, sliplining, and plow and plant. After the success of its use in oil field, it is used in transporting natural gas. This coilable, corrosion-free piping material could be fusion joined in the field to ensure a “leak-free” method of transporting natural gas to home and businesses.

Besides, high density polyethylene is used to distribute and store potable water. This material neither tuberculates nor supports bacterial growth. As such, HDPE pipes have excellent chemical resistance and are suitable for even harsh environments. It is also important to note polyethylene is dielectric (i.e. non-conducting), which means it is not subject to corrosion and maintains its flow capability over time. Another advantage is that HDPE pipe offers excellent fusion integrity, preventing leakage and enabling the development of one continuous pipeline system.

Propylene Oxide

General information

Propylene oxide is one of the main products of Shell Chemicals in Jurong Island. Shell Chemicals has built two Styrene Monomer/Propylene Oxide (SM/PO) plants and two polyols plants due to increases production of propylene oxide.

Propylene oxide (C3H6O) is a colourless liquid with an ether-like odour. It is a highly toxic flammable chemical compound. Below are the molecular formulae of propylene oxide in two forms.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Production of propylene oxide

There are three different routes to produce propylene oxide commercially. Industrial production of propylene oxide is mainly from co-oxidation of propylene with other chemicals. Below are the chemical reactions of the three routes.

Propylene + Chlorine + Lime(chlorine absorber) -> Propylene oxide + Calcium Chloride

Propylene + isobutene -> Propylene oxide + t-butyl alcohol

Propylene + ethyl benzene -> Propylene oxide + styrene

While other processes exist, the Shell Chemicals has derived a strong competitive advantage by using and continually developing their proprietary SM/PO technology, which is the third route. In this process propylene (C3) and ethyl benzene (EB) are simultaneously converted into propylene oxide (PO) and styrene monomer (SM), respectively.

The PO/SM and PO/TBA routes are responsible for the majority of current global production as seen in the figure below. However, they require relatively large capital investments and present difficulties in balancing the markets for propylene oxide and the co-products, leading to considerable volatility in the economic performance of the operations over time. Existing hydroperoxidation plants continue to be operated and incrementally improved; however, new installations may be limited in the future. Although significant propylene oxide capacity is based on the CHPO route, this route suffers from environmental liabilities and large capital investment requirements.

Applications of propylene oxide

Propylene oxide is a colorless liquid with an ether-like odour. It is a highly reactive chemical which reacts readily with compounds containing active hydrogen atoms (such as alcohols, amines, and acids). Therefore, propylene oxide is used as an intermediate for the production of numerous commercial materials containing poly-alcohols, propylene glycol, butanediol and polyalkylene glycol.


These materials have a large variety of applications. Poly-alcohols are used in urethane applications such as rigid foam, flexible foam, coatings, adhesives and sealants & Elastomer systems. Poly-alcohols can also be used in non-urethane applications such as textile surfactants and oil demulsifiers. Besides, propylene glycol produced from propylene oxide is used as aeroplane deicers, fiberglass-reinforced unsaturated polyester resins and hydraulic fluids. Butanediol are used in engineering plastics and fibres and polyalkylene glycol fuel additives and synthetic lubricants.