Hanbang achieves on-spec output at new PTA plant running at 90%

20-Jan-11

China's Hanbang Petrochemical Company has achieved on-spec output at its new 600,000 tpa purified terephthalic acid plant that it is currently operating at 90% of capacity, as per Platts. The plant, construction for which started in December 2007, was scheduled to start up in the Q4-2010 but was delayed due to technical glitches. Part of the plant's PTA output will be used by Chengxing Group's Jiangyin Chenggold Packing Material Co., which has a 300,000 tpa PET bottle chip facility in Jiangyin. The rest of the PTA will be sold in the domestic market on a contract basis. The plant has a 200,000 mt storage tank for its paraxylene feedstock. With an annual PTA capacity of 600,000 tpa, Hanbang's annual PX requirement would be around 400,000 tpa. Hanbang is an 85:15 joint venture between Chengxing Group and Hanbon Petrochemical of Hong Kong. It is one of the 40 petrochemical projects to benefit from the Chinese government's Yuan 500 billion (US$73.2 billion) stimulus package.