Heartland Petrochemical Complex outside Edmonton produces first plastic pellets

The $4.3-billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex, whichhas been under construction northeast of Edmonton since2018, hasproduced its first plastic pellets.

Owner and operator Inter Pipeline Ltd. said Tuesday the newlycommissioned facility has been producing test pelletssteadily sincelate June, an important milestone en route to the expected start offull commercial operationsometime this fall.

The Heartland Petrochemical Complex will convert Alberta propaneinto 525,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene beads,an easilytransported form of recyclable plastic that is used in the manufacturing of awide range of finished products.

The polypropylene produced at the facility will be branded asHeartland Polymers. On its website, Heartland Polymers says polypropylene is in high demand for use in food packaging, health-care PPE, textiles, clothing, automotive parts and personal hygiene products.

Steven Noble, spokesperson for Calgary-based Inter Pipeline, saidthe facility will be the first integrated propanedehydrogenationand polypropylene production facility in North America.

He saidroughly 70 per cent of Heartland's total production capacityhas been already contracted out to long-termcustomers.

"Through the duration of the project's construction, we've seendemand for polypropylene increase significantly ...including at onepoint hitting an all-time record [market price]," Noble said in aninterview. "The demand that we initially forecast certainly hasn'tgone away."

The Heartland facility is being built with the support of a$408-million grant from Alberta's provincial government. Thecashgrant, part of an incentive program aimed at growing the province'spetrochemicals sector, is to be paid to InterPipeline in equalinstalments over three years once the complex is operational.

Noble said by creating a new market for propane, the Heartlandfacility is an example of how natural resourcedevelopment inAlberta is diversifying.

"The fact that we're now looking at our raw resources in adifferent way, and figuring out different ways to get value out ofthem and create other refined products right here at home ... isreally the part of the story that everyone here is excited about,"he said.

The Heartland Petrochemical Complex is expected to employ 300people once fully operational.