Paris, 3 June 2008. Veolia Environnement has signed a contract with Artenius, a subsidiary of chemical company La Seda de Barcelona, for its site at Sines, located to the south of Lisbon, Portugal.
Veolia Environnement is to build and operate the plant for the production of the site's utilities: steam, electricity, demineralized water, industrial gases, and effluent treatment. After winning the call for tenders launched in July 2007, Veolia Environnement set up a dedicated company, Artelia Ambiente SA, which brings together the expertise and know-how of Veolia Water and Veolia Energy to meet Artenius's requirements.
La Seda de Barcelona, the European leader and the third company in the world within the PET packaging sector, has decided to construct in Sines a plant to produce 700,000 tons a year of terephthalic acid (PTA), a primary material used in the manufacture of PET.
Artenius is also a main producer of performs for the PET container industry as well as a PET seller for, amongst other uses, carbonated beverages, the worldwide consumption of which is growing strongly. This material is entirely recyclable.
" The contract recently reached with Veolia Environnement will enable our industrial site in Sines to be a competitive plan ton a global scale using lastest generation PTA technology. This technology represents an important competitive advantage relative to the average European sites. Furthermore, it will reduce energy costs at a 25% rate which positions our company as a technological reference point within its sector and deepens our commitment to the Energy Efficiency principle" said Rafael Espanol, President at La Seda de Barcelona.
Artelia Ambiente, a 100%-owned subsidiary of Veolia Environnement, has begun to build the complex of installations on a 2.15-hectare site that is next to the future PTA plant. The start-up of production at the utilities plant, which includes a 40 MW cogeneration unit, is scheduled for the last quarter of 2009. The plant will be operated by 25 people who have been previously trained in similar facilities managed by Veolia Environnement.
Veolia Environnement's offer has been optimized to limit environmental impacts, in particular by installing an anaerobic effluent treatment process in order to reduce the volume of waste and recover the biogas, which will be used instead of natural gas to produce steam.
"This new contract confirms the quality of the multi-utility services offer proposed by Veolia Environnement to industrial companies and particularly those in the chemical industry," said Stéphane Caine, Executive Vice President, Industrial and Tertiary Markets at Veolia Environnement.
The entire project has been designated a "project of national interest" by the Portuguese government.
The 15-year contract represents cumulative revenue of €850 million for Artelia Ambiente.