Aliko Dangote is expanding the Dangote Refinery into a full-scale industrial hub with a new petrochemical project that could make Nigeria the continent’s leading supplier of detergent feedstock.
The project will produce Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB), a chemical used to make the surfactants, the active cleaning agents in soaps and detergents.
LAB is not a consumer detergent but the essential raw material relied on by detergent manufacturers, Business Insider reported.
The plant is expected to be completed within 30 months and produce 400,000 tonnes annually, significantly surpassing Africa’s current capacity.
Dangote announced the project on Saturday during a tour of the refinery with Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited. Dangote said, “And that raw material for detergent will be sufficient for the entire African continent.
It’s 400,000 tonnes, which we don’t have. The only two are one in Algeria, 100,000 tonnes, and Egypt, 50,000. But we are going 400,000. And we will deliver all this in the next 30 months.”
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The $20 billion Dangote Refinery, Africa’s largest, is steadily moving toward full-capacity fuel production. With refining operations stabilizing, Dangote is transforming the complex into a multi-product industrial zone, hosting petrochemical and other manufacturing projects.
He added, “They [NNPC] too will partner with us here because here is not a refinery. It’s an industrial hub. And that’s why we are doing a Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant, which is a raw material for detergents.”
Currently, Africa depends heavily on imports of LAB, with only two existing plants on the continent, Algeria producing 100,000 tonnes and Egypt 50,000 tonnes.
Dangote’s facility could meet the continent’s entire demand, reduce import dependence, and support local detergent manufacturing.
The LAB project also strengthens Dangote Group’s broader petrochemical footprint, complementing its operations in fertilizer, cement, oil refining, agriculture, and industrial manufacturing.
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Image Credit: Business Insider Africa
