British multinational oil and gas company BP and its partner Zhuhai Port have received final approval from the Chinese Government for the construction of a third purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plant, at Zhuhai, Guangdong.
PTA is a key feedstock for polyester used worldwide in food packaging and textiles.
The 'Zhuhai 3' plant will have a capacity of 1.25 million tons per year and is expected to go onstream in late 2014.
BP chief executive Nick Elmslie said the plant will be using BP's latest proprietary technology and should make BP Zhuhai the most competitive PTA producer in the world.
"As one of the largest PTA producers in the world, our aim is to invest continuously in the right projects as well as invest to improve the competitiveness of our PTA sites and PTA joint ventures globally," Elmslie added.
Zhuhai 3 will reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and other waste streams significantly.
The new plant is expected to achieve 75% lower water discharge, 65% lower greenhouse gas emissions, and 95% lower solid waste generation, meeting and exceeding strict effluent discharge requirements, compared with other conventional technologies.
Zhuhai 3, in combination with the earlier phases of PTA units at the same location, brings the total capacity at the site to more than 2.7 million tons per year. Following the start-up of Zhuhai 3, BP's worldwide net PTA capacity will be 8.25 million tonnes per year.
BP Zhuhai Chemical was formed as a joint venture between BP (85%) and Zhuhai Port (15%) in 1997. The venture's first and second PTA plants began production in 2003 and 2008 respectively.
