Grace licenses UNIPOL technology to Sinochem Quanzhou in China

W R Grace & Co (GRA) has contracted to license its UNIPOL PP process technology to Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co Ltd for a 1-million-tonne-per-year ethylene cracker and refinery expansion project at its facility in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China. The new 350-kiloton-per-year line is expected to begin operations in 2020 to produce high-end impact copolymers.

The Quanzhou operation is a subsidiary of Sinochem Group of Beijing, one of China’s four state oil companies and its leading chemical service provider.

The project represents the 26th UNIPOL PP process technology reactor lines licensed in China. With this license, the total design capacity of UNIPOL PP lines in China will exceed 8,000 kilotons per year.

Grace's all gas-phase UNIPOL PP process technology provides the most advanced and broadest range of homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact copolymers in the industry. As the simplest of all PP process technologies, with fewer moving parts and less equipment than any alternative, its reliable, stable, and predictable operation lead to lower capital, operating, and maintenance costs.

“Our priority is to efficiently deliver a broad range of products to our customers. This technology is widely accepted and allows us to be extremely competitive,” said Tang Huiyuan, Standing deputy general manager of Sinochem Quanzhou and general manager of the ethylene cracker project.

“Grace is especially pleased that the success of our previous UNIPOL PP Process installation at Sinochem Quanzhou is now followed with another. The technology, along with Grace’s non-phthalate CONSISTA catalysts, will help Sinochem Group remain a leader in this industry,” added Al Beninati, president of Grace’s speciality catalysts business segment.