Sinopec petrochem unit to boost capacity

Sinopec, Asia’s largest refiner, has taken steps to raise refining capacity at its Yangzi Petrochemical unit by more than 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) by mid-2014.
Ma Qiulin, chairman and president of Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical Co., Ltd, said that the company will use cutting-edge technology in their expansion projects to eliminate outdated units to raise their competitiveness in the market, as well as meet tougher environmental regulations. Yangzi has invested more than RMB900 million (US$144 million) on 26 pieces of equipment to cut pollution between 2006 and 2010 and will invest at least RMB1.1 billion (US$176.4 million) from 2011 to 2015. The firm wants to double ethylene capacity by adding a new complex with an 800,000-ton-per year capacity, and intends to submit its environmental report by the end of the year.
Yangzi, located in the eastern province of Jiangsu on the bank of the Yangtze river, plans to eliminate an old 800,000 ton per year (tpy) FCC unit, and build a new 2-million tpy catalytic cracking (FCC) unit. In addition to its traditional oil refining and petrochemical businesses, Yanzi has started the development of biochemical products and coal and natural gas-based chemicals. It expects to complete construction of a 160,000 bpd crude processing unit at the end of next year, to be on stream by mid-2014.
As one of the largest makers of polyester and plastics, Yangzi will meet tougher environmental challenges in its expansion, as the industry runs into tighter scrutiny, especially after recent violent protests.
Recently, the eastern city of Ningbo cancelled expansion plans of a petrochemical complex, owned by a Sinopec subsidiary, in the face of a week-long, sometimes violent, protest against the building of a paraxylene facility at the plant, on the grounds that paraxylene, which is used in the manufacture of polyester, is a carcinogen. Ma, who has worked at Yangzi for three decades, said that paraxylene has a lower toxicity than gasoline. “I’m not very concerned,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a problem for China, which has 30 years of experience … in building petrochemical plants,” he added. (November 13, 2012)