Great Development of Freon Substitutes
In the aerosol sector refined LPG and  dimethyl  ether  are
used to replace freon propellant in China.  Three  aerosol
filling centers have been set up in Shanghai, Tianjin  and
  Guangdong  Zhongshan  with  multilateral  funds  of   the
"Montreal Protocol". The total annual filling capacity  is
95 million cans and more than 16 000 tons of freon can  be
replaced.   Shanghai  Jiale  Aerosol  Filling  Center  can
produce 3 000 tons of refined propane and butane  a  year.
It has an annual filling capacity of 30 million cans and 6
300 tons of freon can be  replaced.   Guangdong  Zhongshan
Fine Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. has constructed a 2 500
t/a dimethyl ether unit. Beside, New Development Co.  Ltd.
in Pudong Waigaoqiao Bonded  Zone  and  Yangyuan  Town  in
  Pudong  New  Zone  have  set  up  an  aerosol  propellant
production and filling company with CCL of Canada and  CCL
of the United States. The joint venture company produces a
year 10 000 tons of freon- free  aerosol  propellant,   20
million cans of aerosol products and 15  million  cans  of
liquid products. The Natural Gas Production and  Marketing
Co. in Zhongyuan  Oilfield  has  developed  isobutane,   n
-butane and propane and constructed a 50 000  t/a  unit  of
aerosol freon-free raw materials,  the  biggest  in  Asia.
Anhui Mengcheng Chemical Fertilizer Plant has  constructed
a 2 500 t/a high-purity  dimethyl  ether  unit.   Shanghai
  Research  Institute   of   Petrochemical   Industry   has
constructed an 800 t/a dimethyl ether pilot unit and  also
a 1 000 t/a dimethyl ether commercial production  unit  in
Jiangsu Kunshan.   Wuhan  Sulfuric  Acid  Plant  has  also
constructed a dimethyl ether unit.
  Furthermore, new refrigerants used to replace freon  will
also  have  a  considerable  production  scale  in  China.
Refrigerants used in refrigerators to  replace  freon  F12
include HFC134a, HFC152a and isobutane.
  Major refrigerant projects already  completed  or  to  be
constructed include a 10 000 HFC134a unit  jointly  funded
by Zhejiang Juhua Group and a  company  of  Italy,   Xi'an
Jinzhu Modern Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. jointly set up
by Xi'an Modern Research Institute of Chemistry and  Tibet
Jinzhu (Group) Co., Ltd. which has put  an  investment  of
over 200 million yuan to construct an  HFC134a  production
base with a capacity of  200  t/a  in  1998  and  a  final
capacity of 10 000 t/a, an HFC134a unit in Jiangsu  Meilan
Electrochemical Group, two HFC152a and  processing  plants
constructed by Shanghai 3F New Materials Co. ,   Ltd.   in
Pudong and a 1 000 t/a HFC152a unit in  Zhejiang  Research
Institute of Chemical Industry