US engineering contractor CB&I has won a contract from Formosa Chemicals and Fibre for the license and engineering design of a cumene and phenol expansion in Ningbo, China.

CB&I licensed the original plant, which is based on technology from Italy’s Versalis, in 2010. The facility will now be re-engineered to achieve even higher capacity. A timescale for the project or capacity figures were not disclosed.

Philip Asherman, CB&I’s president and CEO, said the contractor has a long history with the Taiwanese group. He commented: “This award underlines CB&I’s ability to optimize existing units to achieve greater capacity in response to changing market demands”.

The award follows several that the contractor has won in China in recent months. These include an integrated refining and petrochemicals project in Jinzhou City for Jinzhou Port Co. (Jingang), and propane dehydrogenation plants (PDH) for Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology at Dongguan City in Guangdong and Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery in Dalian, Liaoning. The PDH plants will be based on CB&I’s Catofin technology using Clariant’s tailor-made catalyst and heat generating material.

Separately, the contractor has announced the inauguration of a pilot plant for its Novolen PP technology at its R&D center in Pasadena, Texas. CB&I said the facility will play a key role in the development and commercialization of new specialty PP grades and catalysts.