China’s Zhongyuan Petchem to start up MTO project late 2011

GUANGZHOU (ICIS news)--Sinopec's subsidiary Zhongyuan Petrochemical plans to start up its 600,000 tonne/year methanol-to-olefin (MTO) project at Puyang in the central province of Henan by late 2011, a company source said on Tuesday.

The yuan (CNY) 1.5bn ($220m) project includes new constructions – which began on 16 April – as well as expansion works, the source said.

The new facilities that are being constructed include an MTO plant, which would consume 600,000 tonnes of methanol to yield some 200,000 tonnes of ethylene annually, and a 100,000 tonne/year polypropylene (PP) plant.

The expansion work would mainly cover increasing the capacity of the company’s polyethylene (PE) unit to 260,000 tonnes/year, from the present 200,000 tonnes/year, the source added.

The company’s 180,000 tonne/year cracker would be re-engineered to change feedstock to methanol from naphtha, the source said.

Zhongyuan Petrochemical also runs a 60,000 tonne/year PP unit at the same site, the source added.

The company had signed an agreement with a coal chemical company in Henan for methanol supply in early February, the source said, adding that PP and PE products would be sold primarily in the Henan local markets.

($1 = CNY6.83)