OCI TerraSus Loan

active

The proposed investment is an IFC’s A loan of up to US$150 million to OCI TerraSus Sdn. Bhd. (“OCI TRS”, the “Company” or “the Borrower”). This includes up to US$75 million benefiting from credit insurance through Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP) Real Sector Unfunded (RSU). The loan will be fully guaranteed by the South Korea-based parent company, OCI Holdings (“OCIH”, the “Group” or “the Guarantor”). OCI TRS is a 100%-owned subsidiary of OCIH. OCI TRS is a major solar-grade polysilicon producer in the world, and is the first and only solar-grade polysilicon manufacturer in Southeast Asia. It has a capability to produce 10N (99.99999999% or “ten nines”) purity grade polysilicon. OCI TRS was originally established by Tokuyama Corporation of Japan in 2009, with OCIH acquiring 100% stake in May 2017. The Company was rebranded as OCI TRS and is currently operating a production plant within a 186.3ha land plot at Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Malaysia. The plant has a capacity of 35,000 tons per annum (tpa) for polysilicon used for PV cells. OCI TRS is also operating two Chloro-Alkaline (CA)/caustic soda plants with capacities of 10,000 tpa and 110,000 tpa, respectively, within the same premise. The scope of IFC’s investment is to fund the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to build a greenfield semiconductor-grade polysilicon manufacturing facility with 8,000 tpa capacity through OCI Tokuyama Semiconductor Materials Sdn Bhd (“OTSM”). OTSM is a 50-50 JV between OCI TRS and Tokuyama Corporation. The plant will be located entirely within OCI TRS premises in Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Malaysia. Part of IFC’s investment is also to purchase electricity for local facilities under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sarawak Energy in Malaysia.The Chloro-Alkaline (CA)/caustic soda production process includes dissolution of raw salt as brine, brine purification, brine electrolysis to produce Chlorine gas (Cl2), Hydrogen gas (H2) and caustic soda (NaOH), and various gas drying, liquefaction, purification, chemical reactions such as Hydrochloric acid (HCl) synthesis, and Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) by Cl2 absorption. The key products are caustic soda (NaOH) and Hydrochloric acid (HCl). Other intermediate products and by-products such as liquid Chlorine (Cl2), Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) and HCl will be reused/recycled in CA production process and/or are also sold to OCIKumho Sdn. Bhd. (“OCIKumho”) located in Samalaju Industrial Park, Bintulu, Malaysia, another joint venture between OCI TRS and Kumho P&B Chemicals, Inc. to produce Epichlorohydrin (ECH). OCI TRS and OTSM plants convert metallurgical grade silicon (M-Si) with a purity of about 99% to produce Polycrystalline Silicon with purity up to 99.999…% (eleven 9s). This can be achieved by reduction of both M-Si silica stone and Silicon Tetrachloride (SiCl4 or STC) using carbon in reduction reactors (fluidized bed reactor or AX Reactor) in the presence of hydrogen gas to produce Trichlorosilane (SiHCl3 or TCS) as intermediate product. Some residual and unreacted STC and hydrogen gas will also be produced from this process will be directed to a gas cooler for cryogenic separation. Liquefied STC and TCS from the gas cooler chamber are directed to the distillation towers where Purified TCS is separated from the distilled STC. Distilled STC and non-condensable hydrogen gas will be recycled back to the reduction reactor. The Purified TCS is vaporized and fed into the Bell Jar Reactor (Deposition Reactor) together with Hydrogen gas where chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes occur to produce Polycrystalline Silicon deposited onto core rods. The exhaust gases and residual reactants namely TCS, STC, H2 gas and HCl gas are transferred to a gas cooler for cryogenic separation and recycled back for reuse. The Polycrystalline Silicon nuggets from the rods are then etched by nitric acid (HNO3) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) to remove surface impurities before thoroughly washed by pure water. OCI TRS supplies TCS to OTSM for further purification.