In 2005, China had already achieved 19 sets of ethylene production plants with an average production of 397,000 tons per year.
The 19 sets of existing ethylene installations (up to 2005) can be divided into three categories:
The First Class Plants - Each with a size up to over 300,000 tons per year, are seven sets in total, including Yanshan, Daqing,Qilu, Yangzi, Shanghai (II), Maoming, Jilin Petrochem, together producing 3.75 million tons per year and accounting for 66 percent of the national total ethylene capacity.
The Second Class Plants - 8 small and medium-sized installations built in 1990s, each with a size of 15 million tons per year, including Tianjin, Zhongyuan, Beijing Orient, Guangzhou, Panjin, Dushanzi, Fushun, and Lanzhou.
The Third Class Plants - 3 small ethylene units with backward technology, built in an earlier era, including Jilin PetroChem (I), Shanghai (I), and Liaoyang.
In 2005, China overtook Japan to become world's second-largest ethylene producer, only behind the US.
In 2006, China's ethylene capacity increased by 1.4 million tons per year to a total capacity of 10.19 million tons per year. The average size was 509,500 tons per year, exceeding the world average size of 450,000 tons per year in 2005.
All of China's new ethylene plants during the '11th Five-Year Plan' period will be up to world-class scale.
Among the expansion plans, the extension project of 800,000 tons ethylene per year by Guangzhou Petrochemical has already been approved by the State Development and Reform Commission.
marketing@alchempro.com
