Egypt, China ink contract to produce Bromine Ore at SCZone

The Egyptian General Authority of Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZones) and the and Chinese Shandong Tianyi Chemical Corporation signed a contract per which the company would establish an industrial complex for extracting Bromine element from the process of desalination at SCZONE, said the Egyptian Cabinet in a statement on Friday.

Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly witnessed the signing of a $110 million investment contract on the sidelines of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in Beijing.

The project is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa and comes in light of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s directives to localize the Bromine industry, said Walid Gamal-Eldin, the chief of the SCZone General Authority.

Under the contract, high saline water will be imported for producing the Bromine. According to the contract, an 80,000-square-meter plot of land has been allocated to establish the factory for producing the Bromine ore next to a desalination water plant.

Bromine is used in a variety of applications, including flame retardants, water treatment chemicals, insect repellents, photographic chemicals, fragrances, and dyes.