BP plc (London; www.bp.com) and Ningxia Baota Chemical Fibre Co. (a majority owned subsidiary of Baota Petrochemical Group) have signed an agreement to license BP’s latest-generation purified terephthalic acid (PTA) technology, the third such deal agreed by BP. Ningxia Baota intends to build a unit with a capacity of 1.2 million metric tons per year (m.t./yr) at the Ningxia Ningdong Energy and Chemical Zone in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, to produce PTA, the primary feedstock for polyesters used in the textile and packaging industry. Baota expects the PTA plant to come onstream in 2018.
“This is the first third-party PTA licence for BP in China since our recent decision to license the use of our market-leading technology. Baota is a renowned petrochemical company in China and I’m proud that they’ve chosen BP’s advantaged technology,” said Rita Griffin, chief operating officer of BP’s Global Petrochemicals Business. “We have now licensed this latest PTA technology in India, Oman and China – three significant growth markets – and have our own world-scale plant running at Zhuhai in Guangdong, China. We see great potential long-term in the polyester supply chain.”
“Our PTA technology has significantly lower capital and operating costs relative to conventional PTA plants. The technology is substantially more energy efficient, uses less water, and produces less solid waste. We continue to invest heavily in our proprietary technology to maintain BP’s PTA technology as the global leader and as the technology of choice for the future. Innovations are constantly being developed and these will be available to our licensees including Baota.” said Dan Leonardi, BP’s vice president for Technology & Licensing, Petrochemicals.
Mr. Gao Guozheng, chairman of Ningxia Baota Chemical Fibre Co. and chief executive of Baota Petrochemical Group, Ningxia Region said: “This investment is highly strategic for us, fulfilling the local requirements for PTA at the lowest possible cost and contributing to the economic development in Ningxia region. We appreciate the quality of BP PTA technology and look forward to a longterm successful cooperation with BP.