China PP expansions: Grace starts up five PetroChina/Grand Resource Science PP lines; adds new licence with PetroChina Guangxi

W. R. Grace & Co (Grace), the supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has announced hitting another milestone in the Asian market, with the start-up of a 500 kilotonnes/year PP reactor line by PetroChina GuangDong PetroChemical Company (PetroChina GuangDong), a subsidiary of PetroChina Group, the world’s second-largest petroleum company.

The plant will produce homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact copolymer PP resins, catering to the growing demand for high-quality PP resins in the Chinese market.

This marks the fourth Unipol PP technology plant start-up for PetroChina, which includes PetroChina Guangxi (200 kilotonnes/year), PetroChina Fushun (300 kilotonnes/year), and PetroChina Sichuan (450 kilotonnes/year).

The combination of Grace’s PP process design with the Consista catalyst system is said to provide a reaction within minutes after the catalyst was injected, a benefit of Unipol PP technology, adds Grace.

In China, this is the largest Unipol PP technology single-extruder reactor line.

"Grace is honoured to have been chosen once again by PetroChina for this groundbreaking project," said Laura Schwinn, President of Grace's Specialty Catalysts business.

Furthermore, Grace has signed a new license with PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company (PetroChina Guangxi) to develop a 400,000-tonne/year single reactor line using its Unipol PP technology. The anticipated start up is in 2026.

This marks the second Unipol PP technology reactor line that PetroChina Guangxi has licensed and the fifth that PetroChina Group has licensed from Grace for a total licensed capacity of 1.8 million tonnes/year. This Unipol PP technology line in China can take advantage of the full product capabilities to produce homopolymer, ethylene random copolymer, impact copolymer, butene random copolymer, and terpolymer polypropylene resins. 

As a result, PetroChina Guangxi will be at the forefront of advanced PP production in China, it adds.

Meanwhile, Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology Co. also started up its second plant (consisting of two reactor lines) using Grace’s Unipol PP Technology and will add 600,000 tonnes/year of PP resin capacity and increase its total nameplate capacity to 1.2 million tonnes/year.

In addition, Dongguan Grand Resource is utilising Grace’s Consista catalysts in both of its Unipol PP technology lines. The two reactor lines started up seamlessly within 30 days of each other, which exemplifies the technology’s ease of commissioning. 

(PRA)

Subscribe to Get the Latest Updates from PRA  Please click here