W.R. Grace & Co. (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.com) recently announced three new technology awards for the Unipol PP (polypropylene) process technology — one in Kuwait and two in China. The company was contracted to license its Unipol PP process to Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) for the integrated petrochemical complex at its Al-Zour refinery. Expected to open in 2023, the facility is designed to produce 940,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of PP, including high-end homopolymer, random copolymer and impact copolymer thermoplastic resins.
KIPIC is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Kuwait’s national oil company. A long-time Grace customer, KPC previously licensed Unipol PP Process Technology for an affiliate’s joint venture. Hashim Sayyid Hashim, KIPIC Chief Executive Officer, said, “Our commitment to our customers is to make available a broad range of products that enable them to meet the increasingly complex needs of the end-user. We can do that with the Unipol PP technology, and remain extremely competitive at the same time.”
Additionally, W.R. Grace booked two new contracts in China. It will license the Unipol PP process to Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. for a 1 million- m.t./yr ethylene cracker and refinery expansion project at its facility in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China. The new 350,000-m.t./yr 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. Sinochem Quanzhou previously licensed Unipol PP Process Technology in 2009 for a 200,000-m.t./yr line in Quanzhou that started up in 2014. The project represents the 26th Unipol PP Process Technology reactor lines licensed in China.
Grace’s second technology award in China is from Oriental Energy (Ningbo) New Material Co., Ltd. for an expansion at its facility in Ningbo, China. The two new 400,000 m.t./yr lines are expected to begin operations in 2020 to produce homopolymer and random copolymers.
The Ningbo operation is a subsidiary of Oriental Energy Co. Ltd. of Nanjing City, China, a comprehensive alkane resources operator that develops clean energy and new material for the international market. Oriental Energy previously licensed Unipol PP Process Technology for a 400,000-m.t./yr PP line in 2012.