Grace Again Licenses PP Process to Oriental Energy
Technology supplier W. R. Grace has won a fourth licensing contract for its Unipol PP process technology from China’s Oriental Energy. The technology will be used in Oriental’s fifth PP line, which will have a capacity of 400,000 t/y. An onstream date for the new line was not given.
“We are extremely pleased that Oriental Energy has chosen our Unipol PP process technology once again for its newest PP line in Maoming,” said Laura Schwinn, president of Grace’s specialty catalysts business. “Our continuous cooperation over the last ten years has created a solid and lasting relationship between our businesses, and we are excited to watch Oriental Energy achieve their goal of becoming one of the top polypropylene producers in the world using our technology.”
Grace also announced this month the successful start-up of two 400,000 t/y Unipol PP lines at Oriental Energy’s Ningbo site. These units take the total capacity for Unipol PP in China to more than 6.3 million t/y and Grace expects another 2 million t/y to go on stream in the country in the next few years.
“These lines are critical to our corporate vision and success in polyolefins, and we look forward to working with Grace to further optimize their performance,” said Wu Yinlong, Oriental Energy’s general manager.
Oriental Energy currently has the largest Unipol PP operating capacity in China and plans to build more PP lines at Ningbo and Maoming in the years ahead. Grace said the Chinese company anticipates producing several grades of homopolymers, random and impact copolymers with the newest lines meeting customers’ expanding resin requirements.
Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist
