Recently, according to reports on INVISTA’s WeChat public account, INVISTA’s technology licensing department, IPT, signed a technical agreement with Hengli Petrochemical (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., authorizing Hengli to use INVISTA’s P8 technology. Construction of two PTA units in Huizhou. Hengli Petrochemical (Huizhou) Co., Ltd. is one of the subsidiaries of Hengli Petrochemical. The two devices are located in Xiayong, Daya Bay, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. Hengli, INVISTA and Zhongding Group (detailed design) successfully held a project kick-off meeting on October 23, 2020.
Hengli also operates five other PTA units on Changxing Island, Dalian, all using INVISTA’s advanced PTA technology. The total production capacity of the five units reaches 12 million tons/year.
Mr. Adam Sackett, Vice President of INVISTA’s PTA business, said: “We are very pleased that Hengli has once again chosen our industry-leading P8 PTA technology. Our two companies have cooperated for 10 years. We look forward to both parties continuing to cooperate on this project and applying the experience gained from Hengli’s 4th and 5th units to this project to achieve success.”
PTA’s three major device technologies have become mainstream. Invista P8 has a PTA production capacity of up to 43 million tons
At present, China’s PTA industry has developed to a high level. To achieve healthy development, the PTA industry must Constantly carrying out changes, in order to adapt to the new requirements of the new situation in the industry, we must face new challenges brought by new technologies, new patterns, and new competitions. In accordance with national requirements, to achieve high-quality development of the industry, we must adopt advanced Technology can ensure that enterprises remain invincible in the competition. Next, the editor briefly summarizes three well-known PTA device technologies, including INVISTA technology, BP technology, and China Kunlun Engineering Technology.
In the professional field of PTA devices, INVISTA currently has a rich performance in PTA technology licensing, with 41 technology authorizations/technology transfers at home and abroad, and rapid projects Proven track record of execution and rapid implementation of equipment to production and specifications. 10 customers use INVISTA PTA technology in multiple devices. INVISTA currently has a PTA production capacity of 43 million tons, and 11.8 million tons of INVISTA PTA production capacity is under construction. INVISTA is one of the leading PTA patentees, with a global patent usage share as high as 63%. From 2010 to 2002, INVISTA’s domestic market share increased from 72% to 80%.
P8 technology is INVISTA’s latest PTA technology platform, which has industry-leading unit capital output rate, variable cost and environmental performance. This is why INVISTA has continuously successfully launched new technology platforms over the past 30 years to enhance customer market competition. The latest proof of strength. Its characteristics are also relatively distinctive: low-temperature oxidation and patented PTA mother liquor PX extraction technology – reduce the combustion loss of the oxidation reaction, and produce high-quality PTA products with low PT acid content with industry-leading acetic acid and PX consumption; higher energy recovery efficiency and more recycling More electric energy; lower high-pressure steam consumption—unique anti-scaling refined preheater design to achieve long-term low steam consumption; efficient and reliable reverse osmosis acetic acid recovery system; low-pressure exhaust treatment—the highest environmental standards; unique Residue treatment technology – efficient recovery of cobalt manganese catalysts and high-purity benzoic acid products; actively promote the localization of major equipment – only air compressor units, titanium mixers and some instrument valves need to be imported.
At present, the domestic PTA devices with INVISTA’s P8 advanced technology include Hengli Petrochemical’s 4 and 5 #5 million tons/year plants, the second phase of Jiaxing Petrochemical with a capacity of 2.2 million tons/year, and the Fujian Baiba Plant, which is expected to be put into operation this year. Honggang Petrochemical’s 2.5 million tons/year unit, Honggang Petrochemical’s 2.5 million tons unit, and the 3.2.5 million tons/year unit expected to be put into operation in 2022.
Changes in the PTA industry: It will enter a four-year production capacity expansion period and market participants will continue to increase
Looking to the future, crude oil will serve as the source of oil, gas and chemical products Its role will mainly depend on the olefins industry chain and the aromatics industry chain, with the latter mostly concentrated in China. Previously, the industry generally believed that the industry was about to form a pattern dominated by five to six giants. However, judging from the latest industry trends, The market structure of the aromatics industry chain is still likely to change.
Table 1 Evolution of PTA production technology
In the PX-PTA-polyester (polyester is mainly divided into filament, staple fiber and bottle flakes) industry In the chain, PTA is in the middle reaches and has the role of connecting the past and the future; compared with the PX project, the investment in PTA production capacity of five million tons is about 10 billion. It can be said that the capital investment of PTA projects is relatively low, and as a standardized product , it is relatively easy to scale up PTA (there are many types of filament products); in addition, the progress of PTA production technology is also one of the catalysts for changes in the industry structure. The current PTA industry has transitioned to the fourth generation technology, and the single-line production capacity has not only increased to 250-300 10,000 tons/year, the comprehensive utilization of energy, unit consumption of raw materials and device maintenance costs have all been greatly improved. From an economic point of view, the processing cost line of PTA units of 1 million tons/year and below is 750 yuan/ton, even if The processing cost of INVISTA’s previous P7.5 generation technology was also between 400 yuan/ton and 500 yuan/ton. However, the processing cost of the fourth generation new device is much higher.The cost line is 300-350 yuan/ton.
Figure 2 Current distribution of PTA devices
Data source: WIND Information
Recently, the new production capacity of the PTA industry has increased significantly, and the attitude change of Sinopec is particularly obvious. Judging from the new round of new PTA production capacity recently announced by major companies, it can be mainly divided into four major types:
First, Yizheng Chemical Fiber, a subsidiary of Sinopec, announced a 6 million tons PTA capacity expansion plan, which significantly exceeded market expectations. Previously, the market once believed that Sinopec had abandoned the aromatics industry chain;
Second, third Fangxiang announced a new production capacity expansion plan, preparing to build a 3.2 million-ton PTA production line and expand downstream. In addition to the polyester bottle flakes where the company has traditional advantages, it also includes a 1 million-ton polyester filament plan;
Third, Hengli Petrochemical announced that it will build 5 million tons of PTA production capacity in Huizhou, which will eventually reach 16.6 million tons of production capacity in the PTA field and will require 20 million tons of polyester downstream digestion;
is the downward integration of three PX companies among new industry players, such as Pan Asia Petrochemical, Dongying United and Yulong Petrochemical, all of which have taken over their PX production capacity. After the launch of Dushan Energy Phase II and Baihong PTA new production capacity, the effective domestic PTA production capacity will reach 59.455 million tons by the end of this year; and adding up the new PTA production capacity from 2021 to 2023, the total will increase again by 48.4 million tons. It can be said that , compared with the PTA production capacity at the end of this year, the planned production capacity in the next three years has almost doubled. Starting from this year, the PTA industry will enter a four-year capacity expansion period. Market participants continue to increase, and the industry structure will inevitably change.
Table 3 Potential new PTA production capacity in the next three years (10,000 tons)
Data source: Internet public information
Undoubtedly, with the substantial expansion of PTA production capacity, the sales of PTA will become a big problem in the future. Based on the calculation that each ton of polyester consumes 0.85 tons of PTA, all mainstream PTA companies must sell PTA externally. This is a huge problem. Sales pressure may force the current major PTA manufacturers to reach long-term agreements with downstream customers, or to increase their own polyester production capacity. In the future, polyester production capacity is very likely to usher in the era of the Great Leap Forward. Of course, the progress of industrial technology is still It may lead to the result of “there is no way out, but there is a bright future in another village”, and the good show has just begun.
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