Celanese announces strategic milestone for acetyl chain business in China

Celanese announced the achievement of several strategic milestones at its facilities in Clear Lake, Texas, and Nanjing, China. The aim is to enhance the competitive cost position, sustainable footprint and operational flexibility of the Acetyl Chain (AC) business and position it to meet future demand growth. Celanese is a global specialty materials and chemicals company.

The new 1.3 million tons Clear Lake acetic acid expansion project will start in March 2024: Celanese believes it is the lowest cost and lowest carbon footprint acetic acid plant in the world.

This milestone builds on the recently announced Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) project certified by ISCC. It adds 130 tons of capacity to the Fairway Methanol joint venture with Mitsui & Co., while capturing 180 tonnes of CO2 industrial emissions. Low-carbon methanol can provide customers with low-carbon ECO-CC AC and engineering material downstream products to meet a wide range of consumer applications.

Start-up of new vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) unit in Nanjing and completion of low-capital downstream redispersible polymer powder (RDP) debottlenecking project: The new VAE unit will increase production capacity by 70 tons. It expands Acetyl Chain's ability to fully leverage its comprehensive product chain in the Asian region and meet the growing regional needs of VAE and downstream RDP.

Celanese subsidiary Celanese (Nanjing) Chemical Company has extended its carbon dioxide phase II contract with Nanjing Chengzhi Clean Energy Co., Ltd. to supply carbon monoxide to its Nanjing factory. Carbon monoxide is a key raw material for acetic acid production. The extended contract will provide Celanese with a reliable long-term supply of carbon monoxide for its 1,200-tonne acetic acid plant in Nanjing and increase operational flexibility.

Mark Murray, Senior Vice President of Celanese Acetyl, said: "Our teams in Clear Lake and Nanjing have done an incredible job across our business and with key partners such as Seiji, completing key operational investments, improving our optionability and increasing our underlying earnings by $100 million to $1.4 billion. As we previously reported."

"These initiatives not only improve our ability to meet customer needs in a flexible, cost-effective manner, but also position us for future global and regional growth," Murray added.

Celanese is a producer of acetic acid, a basic chemical used in paints and coatings, adhesives, plastic bottles, food packaging and construction materials.