The site was opened in May 1914 when the North Eastern Railway Company built jetties connected to its railway system east of King George Dock. The first ship to dock there was carrying of benzene and thereafter, oil came to be imported at the site with the Asiatic Petroleum Company and the Anglo Mexican Company with BP joining the site in 1921. In 1930 the site was expanded to produce acetic acids from alcohol which were eventually closed down by BP in 1990. In April 1967, BP bought the distillery at Salt End outright. In 1989, Air Products and Yara started operations on the site with Air Products providing raw material for use on site and Yara producing ammonia which it started shipping around Europe. In 2000, the Teesside to Saltend pipeline was opened which transports ethylene to Saltend to be used on site. In March 2007, BP Announced the sale of their Vinyl acetate monomer and Ethyl acetate plants to Ineos Oxides which also included ownership and maintenance of the ethylene pipeline from Teesside. In 2009, BP created the Saltend Chemicals Park, which covers an area of and they continued to manage the site until March 2017 when Teesside based PX Group took over the day to day running of the park.
BP Chemical works
The BP acetyl plants at Salt End produce about of acetic acid and acetic anhydride per year, making BP the largest producer of these chemicals in Europe. Acetic acid is used in VAM, PTA esters and other intermediates and acetic anhydride is used in cellulose acetate and chemical derivatives.
INEOS
INEOS bought out the vinyl acetate monomer and Ethyl acetate plants from BP in March 2007. The VAM plant was closed down in 2013 with the loss of 18 jobs. INEOS had invested £40 million in the plant but it couldn't make a profit against cheaper imports from the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Ethyl acetate is still in production with ETAC being used in printing inks, glues, paints, packaging, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Vivergo Fuels
Vivergo Fuels was a joint venture between BP, Associated British Foods and DuPont, with a per year wheat-to-bioethanol plant at Saltend. After completion in 2012 the unit was intended to be the largest such plant in the UK and the 5th largest in Europe, but design and commissioning issues affected output in 2013. The bioethanol produced is blended into petrol. Vivergo's construction was the subject of industrial action in March–April 2011 resulting from the termination of a contract with Redhall Engineering. Construction was delayed for several months, but in August 2011 it restarted. Protests at the gate of the Saltend site were heavily policed owing to severe disruption of the site and the road network to the east of Kingston upon Hull. The plant's closure was announced in September 2018 with lower than expected market demand for ethanol in petrol fuel due to the UK government maintaining the mandated blend at 5% by volume rather than increasing to 10% as had been expected.
Salt End cogeneration plant
Salt End Power Station was commissioned in 2000 by Entergy an American power generator. It was later sold to Calpine Corporation, also an American power generator, in August 2001 for £562 million. In July 2005, Salt End was sold to International Power and Mitsui for £500 million. The site was built by Mitsubishi and Raytheon. The station is run on gas using single shaft 3 × Mitsubishi 701F gas Turbines machines with Alstom 400 MWe generators. The station has a total output of 1,200 MW; of that 100 MW is allocated to supply BP Chemicals. Each gas turbine has a Babcock Borsig Powerheat recovery steam generator, which all lead to one steam turbine per unit. The waste product of electricity generation is steam at the rate of about 120 tonnes/h which is sold to BP Chemicals to use in their process. This makes Salt End one of the most efficient power stations in the UK.
Waste incineration
In June 2009 the Environment Agency issued an environmental permit to Waste Recycling Group for a non-hazardous waste incinerator at Queen Elizabeth Dock, Saltend. The plant is an energy from waste facility, which will burn waste at high temperatures and use the energy to generate electricity which was later backtracked due to strong opposition from the local town of Hedon with the fear of toxic fumes.
North of the A1033 and away from the main Saltend Chemicals Park, is Yorkshire Water'swaste water treatment works. Although Yorkshire Water invested £30 million in October 2015 to improve the odours emanating from the plant, local people in Preston and Hedon have employed solicitors to bring about legal action over the smell.
Nippon Gohsei
Nippon Gohsei produce ethyl-vinyl alcohol copolymer on site. The EVOH line at Salt End is the largest in the world and is marketed under the brand name SOARNOL. The product is an alternative packing material composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. When the product enters into the waste stream, it causes no toxic gases when burnt and only burns at half the temperature of polyethylene.
