Tianjin Petchem runs aroms, PTA at full rates

24 March 2009 09:25  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--China’s Tianjin Petrochemical was running its aromatics and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants at full capacity after restarting them earlier this month following a protracted shutdown since September 2008, company sources said.

The company had earlier planned to resume production in February. But delays in equipment deliveries and other mechanical issues pushed back the restart date by a few weeks, the sources added. The company had shut the units due to poor margins for PTA, benzene and paraxylene (PX).

"We restarted the aromatics [plants] first. The PTA plant followed and is now running normally since the first half of this month," one of the sources said.

Tianjin Petrochemical is a subsidiary of petrochemical giant Sinopec. It operates a 350,000 tonne/year PTA plant in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

Its aromatics complex is able to annually produce 145,000 tonnes of benzene, 135,000 tonnes of toluene, 400,000 tonnes of mixed xylenes, including 350,000 tonnes of paraxylene.

For more on PTA visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect
Please visit the complete ICIS plants and projects database

By: Salmon Aidan Lee
+65 6780 4359

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly