Grace licenses polypropylene process technology to KIPIC, Sinochem
COLUMBIA, MD. — W. R. Grace & Co., a supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has contracted to license its UNIPOL PP process technology to Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) for the integrated petrochemical complex at its Al-Zour refinery and Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. for a 1-MMtpy ethylene cracker and refinery expansion project at its facility in Quanzhou, Fujian province, China.
Expected to open in 2023, the KIPIC complex is designed to produce 940 ktpy of PP, including high-end homopolymer, random copolymer and impact copolymer thermoplastic resins. KIPIC is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), Kuwait’s national oil company. A long-time Grace customer, KPC previously licensed UNIPOL PP Process Technology for an affiliate’s JV.
Sinochem’s 350-ktpy line is expected to begin operations in 2020 to produce high-end impact copolymers. The Quanzhou operation is a subsidiary of Sinochem Group of Beijing, one of China’s four state oil companies and its leading chemical service provider. Sinochem Quanzhou previously licensed UNIPOL PP Process Technology in 2009 for a 200-ktpy line in Quanzhou that started up in 2014.
The project represents the 26th UNIPOL PP Process Technology reactor lines licensed in China. With this license, the total design capacity of UNIPOL PP lines in China will exceed 8,000 ktpy.
Grace's all gas-phase UNIPOL PP Process Technology provides the most advanced and broadest range of homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact copolymers in the industry.
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