OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2014. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has announced that Cepsa Chemical (Shanghai) will use UOP process technology to meet demand in China for key petrochemicals used to make plastics for the fast-growing domestic construction and automotive industries

Cepsa to boost Chinese phenol output with UOP assistance Cepsa Chemical (Shanghai) will use UOP's Phenol process to produce high quality phenol and by-product acetone – key building blocks for polycarbonate plastics used in construction and automobile production.

The new facility will be built at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.

China is the world's largest consumer of polycarbonate plastics, representing nearly 30 per cent of global consumption. Demand is expected to grow by 13 per cent annually during the next 10 years. Cepsa Chemical (Shanghai) is majority owned by Cepsa, an integrated energy company based in Spain.

"We are devoted to the Chinese market, and with this plant, CEPSA will have a network of facilities away from its home country in order to meet demand where the growth is taking place," said Fernando Iturrieta, chief executive officer of Cepsa Chemical.

"Despite recent, lower than expected growth figures, China will continue to be a growing market and Cepsa wants to be there. We are very proud of this project in Shanghai, as it is the first investment of Cepsa in northern Asia."

The new complex in China will have a capacity of 250,000 MTA of phenol and 150,000 MTA of acetone, and will make Cepsa the second-largest producer of phenol in the world.

In addition to technology licensing, UOP will provide process design and start-up services for the Shanghai complex, which is expected to begin production in November 2014. The new phenol plant will be integrated with Cepsa Chemical's cumene plant, which is being built at the same site.

"UOP and Cepsa have been technological partners across the entire value chain of the refining and petrochemicals industry for nearly 40 years," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business unit. "Cepsa, a top global phenol producer, currently operates three UOP Phenol units in Spain and our technology has a proven track record of performance and safety in those operations."