Rongsheng JV's Zhoushan Complex To Add 8 Mln Tpa Paraxylene To China's Capacity By 2020

Rongsheng JV's Zhoushan complex to add 8 mln tpa paraxylene to China's capacity by 2020

23-Nov-16

Rongsheng Group, Tongkun Group and a few other Chinese companies are building an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex on Zhoushan Island, in Zhejiang province, which will boost the country's paraxylene production capacity by 8 mln tpa by 2020, as per sources reported by Platts.
Stage one comprises completion of 4 mln m tpa of PX production capacity by the end of 2018, and two years later under stage two another 4 mln m tpa of PX capacity would be added, a source close to Rongsheng said. Construction of the refinery and petrochemical complex has already begun, the source said, adding that refining capacity would be 40 mln mt/year. The petrochemical complex will include a 1.8 mln mt/year styrene monomer plant and also an acetone plant, which means most of the benzene produced will be consumed captively, the source said.

Separately, stage two of Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical's PX project is expected to start up in late 2018, which will add another 2 mln m tpa of PX capacity to its existing 1.6 mln m tpa, sources close to the company said recently. Ningbo Zhongjin is a subsidiary of Rongsheng Group. China's annual PX imports are expected to be about 12 mln mt or slightly more in 2016. With the country's PX production capacity expanding at least 10 mln mt/year by 2020, imports could be under threat from the rise in domestic production, sources said. There is also plans for Rongsheng to build a 3 mln mt/year purified terephthalic acid plant near the Ningbo Zhongjin complex by end-2018, the source said. Rongsheng Group is also one of the owners of China's largest PTA producer, the Yisheng group of companies, which has PTA plants at Ningbo, Dalian and Hainan, totaling more than 12 million mt/year of PTA capacity.
Tongkun is also a PTA producer with one plant at Zhapu, Zhejiang province, with a capacity of 1.5 mln mt/year.
The company is building another 2.2 mln mt/year PTA plant Zhapu, which is expected to start in Q4-2017, Platts previously reported.