PetroChina Sichuan selects Dow and Aker Solutions for polypropylene process project in China

PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has selected UNIPOL polypropylene process technology from Dow Technology Licensing for its new 450 KTA polypropylene facility in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Aker Solutions will provide the process design and technical advisory services.

The PetroChina Sichuan facility will be one of the largest single-train polypropylene facilities in The People's Republic of China. The plant will be part of PetroChina Sichuan's 800 KTA ethylene complex in Chengdu, and is due on-stream in 2010.

''With strong annual growth projected for polypropylene over the next several years, global producers like PetroChina appreciate the advantages of having both large-scale efficiency and the flexibility to adjust production,'' said Dr. Molly Peifang Zhang, business vice president, Dow Technology Licensing. ''UNIPOL Polypropylene Technology and the advanced SHAC Catalyst Systems give licensees the capability to achieve economies of scale and offer differentiated products to customers.''

''Aker Solutions has collaborated with Dow Technology Licensing on numerous UNIPOL polypropylene technology lines around the world. We are very pleased with the award of this latest project, which reconfirms our in-depth knowledge of the process application requirements with this technology,'' said Johan Cnossen, president of Aker Solutions' process business.

PetroChina Sichuan is the fifth polypropylene plant in China to use UNIPOL Polypropylene Technology in the past two years. For Aker Solutions, this marks its fifth polyolefins project in China over the same time period.

With this facility and others being built in Fushun, Liaoning Province and QinZhou, GuangXi Province, PetroChina will have nearly 1 million tons of polypropylene capacity using UNIPOL Polypropylene Technology. Aker Solutions was awarded the contracts for basic engineering design and technical advisory services for each of the three plants.

The PetroChina Sichuan license agreement includes production capability for the broadest range of polypropylene resins, including: homopolymers, random copolymers and impact copolymers for various grades of plastics. The well-proven UNIPOL Polypropylene Technology, high performance SHAC catalyst systems and leading products available under the license agreement give PetroChina a cost-effective, long-term solution for addressing polypropylene demand.

When this plant and others currently in the execution stage enter service, UNIPOL polypropylene technology will be used to produce nearly 11 million metric tons of polypropylene per year, which will represent more than 16 percent of total global capacity.