Oil & petrochemical company BP is planning a second world-scale PTA (purified terephthalic acid) plant at their BP Zhuhai Chemical Company Limited (BP Zhuhai) site in Guangdong Province, China.
BP Zhuhai, a joint venture between BP (85 per cent) and Fu Hua Group (15 per cent), currently operates a 350,000 tonnes a year PTA plant at the site and will also own and operate the new plant.
The new plant, with a capacity of 900,000 tonnes a year, will be the first to employ BP's latest generation PTA technology and, subject to final approval from the Chinese Government, is expected to come on stream at the end of 2007 to meet PTA demand growth in China.
Steve Welch, BP Group Vice President, Aromatics and Acetyls stated that 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 technology – once again reinforcing BP's commitment to the PTA business and to China.
BP's new technology enables scale and cost efficiencies which significantly reduce both capital cost and conversion costs. In addition, the new plant will deliver a step change in environmental performance, reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and other waste streams. He added that with the commercialisation of this new technology, they will actively pursue additional PTA investment options in China and extend they franchises in Europe and North America.
Components of the technology to be used at Zhuhai are also applicable across BP's global PTA system, enabling new globally competitive expansion options. BP is actively progressing major debottleneck projects in North America and Europe to take advantage of its enhanced technology position to meet regional demand growth and to improve BP's leading supplier position in these regions.
marketing@alchempro.com
