LyondellBasell Awarded Contract for Lianyungang Petrochemical’s New HDPE Facility in China

The world’s leading olefin producer and technology provider, LyondellBasell has bagged the contract for delivering its flagship Hostalen ACP technology to Lianyungang Petrochemical’s high-density polyethylene (HDPE) facility in China. The facility, which is going to be built in Jiangsu Province of China, will exhibit the production capacity of 400 kiloton HDPE per year.

Hostalen ACP technology uses Zieglar Natta catalysts in its multi-staged reactor cascade which facilitates the production of high-performance HDPE with adequate toughness balance, stress and impact resistance, and easy processability properties to serve the demanding films and pipes manufacturing. The technology is characterized by its high plant reliability, enhanced monomer conversion rates and fast grade changes, which has allowed this technology to deliver 1 million tonnes per year of resins at various joint and completely owned ventures across the world.

HDPE is a thermoplastic polymer that is produced from the thermal cracking of petroleum. Engrossed with UV resistance and high durability properties, HDPE is predominantly used in food and commodity packaging, pipes and tubing, automobile parts, medical bags, and textile.

As per ChemAnalyst, the global consumption of high density polypropylene in 2020 remained to be 45 million tonnes, which is expected to rise by a healthy CAGR of 5% in the coming 5 years. China, which dominates the HDPE market, is anticipated to witness a spike in high density polypropylene demand owing to its intensifying industrial growth, construction activities and preference for packaged commodities. Given that China’s HDPE imports dominate the end-user industries over the domestically produced volumes, the addition of new capacity is expected to positively impact this ratio of imparity in the country’s favour. The improved high density polypropylene supplies with only hindrance from the fluctuating feedstock prices are expected to bring stabilization in China’s high density polyethylene prices in future.