Daya Bay Vigorously Develops Large-scale Petrochemical and Fine Chemical Projects

According to the "Adjustment and Stimulus Program for China's Petrochemical Industry" promulgated by the Chinese government, over the next three years, in the Chinese coastal areas, "over 30 million t/a large-scale refining bases will be gradually formed in Ningbo, Shanghai and Nanjing, respectively, and over 20 million t/a large-scale ones will be gradually formed in Maoming, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Quanzhou, Tianjin and Caofeidian, respectively." According to the "Large-scale petrochemical bases, Large-scale projects, Huge development and Big upgrade" concept, Daya Bay, which is located in Huizhou, vigorously pushes forward the fine and high-end development of its petrochemical industry and speed up the construction of a world-class petrochemical base. In the near future, in Daya Bay a petrochemical industrial park with a planned area of 50 square kilometers and a fine chemical industrial park with a planned area of 15 square kilometers will be built. Daya Bay will be home to a world-class petrochemical and refining base with a 40 million t/a refining capacity, a 3 million t/a ethylene production capacity, a cluster of midstream and downstream industries, a perfect supporting system and a rational layout.

1.  Advantages

1.1 Leading projects have been put into production, and the raw materials of fine chemicals are sufficient

In Daya Bay, CNOOC's 12 million t/a refining project and CNOOC-Kings Petrochemical Corporation's 1 million t/a para-xylene project were put into production in 2009, and the CNOOC and Shell Petrochemical Corporation's (CSPC) ethylene unit expanded from 800 000 t/a to 950 000 t/a will soon put into production. CNOOC Huizhou Refinery is by far China's first and largest single-set heavy sour crude oil refining plant with a capacity of 12 million t/a. In Daya Bay, CSPC and other companies have 11 world-class advanced production units. Every year, these units can provide more than 2.3 million tons of high value-added petrochemicals which can be used as raw materials for fine chemical projects.

1.2 Having an outstanding infrastructure and a perfect supporting system

At present, in Daya Bay, Huizhou LNG Power Company Limited's 1 050 MW unit and China Shenhua Energy Company Limited Huizhou Thermoelectric Branch's 60 kilowatt thermal and electric power co-generation units have been put into use; the East River water diversion project with a daily water supply of 400 000 cubic meters has been completed; and supporting piers, railways, roads and drainage facilities have been completed. 17 public works projects have settled in Daya Bay. All these have basically built an integrated public works framework for the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park.

2. Current Status

By now, a total of 35 mid-downstream petrochemical and fine chemical projects have settled in the Daya Bay area, involving a sum of about RMB16.26 billion. Among them, 21 projects have been put into production or trial production, including MMA (methyl methacrylate) project of Mitsubishi Rayon Co Ltd, Bridgestone Corporation's synthetic rubber project and Shenzhen Hongshang's heat shrinkable materials project. Seven projects are under construction, including CNOOC Energy Technology & Service Limited's acrylic acid and acrylates project, Clariant's surfactant project and ZTE (Huizhou)'s mineral oil project. Seven projects are planned, including CNOOC's refining project, LG Chem Ltd's ABS project, Hunan Zhongchuang Chemical Company Limited's acetate project and Shenzhen CAPCHEM Technology Company Limited's electrolyte project.

3.  Development Plan

According to the overall development plan of Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park (2009-2020), a total of 50 new projects will be built in the park. The specific industry chains are as follows:

3.1 Leading refining / ethylene projects
Before 2015, a capacity of 22 million t/a oil refining, 2 million t/a ethylene and1 million t/a aromatics will be built. By 2020, a capacity of 40 million t/a refining, 3 million t/a ethylene and 2 million t/a aromatics will be built.

3.2 A total of 17 petrochemicals processing projects
Downstream products of ethylene includes: polyethylene (including EVA), styrene, ethylene oxide / ethylene glycol jointly produced by ethylene crackers, and the synthetic rubber of styrene (SBR, SBS thermoplastic rubber), SIS elastomer and expandible polystyrene. The priority of the industry chain is to develop ethylene - vinyl acetate - polyvinyl alcohol / polyvinyl acetate emulsion products and ethylene - EPDM rubber - plastic alloy products.
    Downstream products of propylene includes: polypropylene and propylene glycol jointly produced by ethylene crackers, and phenol / acetone, epoxy resin, acrylic acid and acrylates. The priority of the industry chain is to build a 500 000 t/a superflex unit and to increase the total output of propylene and ethylene. Key products are polycarbonate, modified polyphenylene ether, EPDM rubber and polypropylene elastomer.
It is also planed to use the refinery byproducts like C 4, C 5 and C 9 to produce key products such as butyl rubber, high-activity polyisobutylene, SIS elastomer and petroleum resins.

3.3 A total of 6 downstream projects of aromatics
The planned industry chain of aromatics includes: First, to build a polyester industry cluster, including large-scale purified terephthalic acid (PTA), PET, PBT and PTT units; second, to develop adipic acid - nylon 66 resin - engineering plastics; third, to develop maleic anhydride -1, 4-butanediol-THF-PTMEG - spandex, and 1,4-butanediol - biodegradable plastic PBS series products.