Ineos Styrolution will not restart its styrene monomer production site in Sarnia, Ontario, which has been shut down since April 2024.
The Frankfurt, Germany-based company expects to complete the decommissioning and site closure by early in the fourth quarter of 2025. The site has annual capacity of 950 million pounds of styrene monomer and employs about 80 workers, plus a large number of outside contractors.
The company first announced plans on June 11 to permanently close the Sarnia site.
"Since announcing the difficult decision to permanently close our Sarnia site, we have conducted an extensive assessment to determine the operational viability of restarting the site on a temporary basis," CEO Steve Harrington said in the latest announcement.
"Ultimately, the conclusion of the assessment was that temporarily restarting the site is not operationally feasible or economically justifiable," he said.
The plant has been criticized for its alleged impact on the health of local residents. Sources have told Plastics News that closing Sarnia should not have much of an effect on North American styrene and PS markets, since those markets already are oversupplied. Ineos Styrolution officials emphasized that they remain committed to the styrenics business.
The Sarnia styrene facility was built by the Canadian Polymer Crown Co. in 1943 and was purchased by Ineos since 2014.