BP and its partner, Zhuhai Port Co, received final approvals from the Chinese Government for the construction of a third purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, at Zhuhai, Guangdong

The ‘Zhuhai 3’ plant will have a capacity of 1.25 million tonnes per year and is expected to start up in late 2014. PTA is an important feedstock for polyester used worldwide in food packaging and textiles.

Nick Elmslie, Chief Executive of BP Global Petrochemicals said: “This plant will be using BP’s latest proprietary technology and should make BP Zhuhai the most competitive PTA producer in the world. As one of the largest PTA producers in the world, our aim is to invest continuously in the right projects as well as invest to improve the competitiveness of our PTA sites and PTA joint ventures globally.”

Mark Wilson, President of Aromatics Asia and China Olefins & Derivatives, added “Zhuhai 3 will be the first to employ BP’s latest generation PTA technology. This should deliver a step change in environmental performance, reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and other waste streams significantly. Compared with other conventional technologies, we expect the new plant to achieve 75% lower water discharge, 65% lower greenhouse gas emissions, and 95% lower solid waste generation, meeting and exceeding strict effluent discharge requirements.”

Tags: BP PLC