BP to expand petrochemicals ops in China
16 Feb 2011
London – BP is to increase purified terephthalic acid (PTA) production capacity at the BP Zhuhai Chemical Co. Ltd – its JV with Zhuhai Port Co Ltd – site in Guangdong Province, China, and is planning to build a new world-scale PTA plant at the same site.
The planned debottleneck at Zhuhai will increase capacity by over 200ktpa from its second unit (Z2), making the total PTA production capacity of the Zhuhai site some 1,700ktpa.
BP said it has completed engineering design work for the Z2 debottleneck and expects the expansion to be fully operational in Q1/12.
A third PTA plant in Zhuhai is under pre-engineering planning. With a capacity of 1,250ktpa, it will be the first to employ BP’s latest generation PTA technology and is expected on stream in 2014.
According to BP, the process technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other waste streams significantly. It is also applicable across BP’s global PTA system, it added.
The technology also enables scale and cost efficiencies which significantly reduce both capital cost and conversion costs to lower levels than any other PTA technology, BP further claimed. A company spokesman declined to give any details about the process, saying that it was commercially sensitive.
“This investment will be the world’s largest single train PTA plant built in the world’s largest and fastest growing PTA market with the world’s best and lowest cost technology,” said Sue Rataj, BP’s chief executive, petrochemicals.
“The significantly reduced environmental and energy footprint of the new technology will help China meet its commitments to environmental protection, energy savings and safety, and should set a new standard for the industry,” added Rataj.
James Yim, President, BP Aromatics Asia and China Olefins & Derivatives added: “With the deployment of this new technology, we will be the most competitive PTA producer in the world. We will actively pursue additional PTA investment options in other area of China as well as other growing markets in Asia.”
