Acrylonitrile Production in China

Based on data found on the internet, China in recent years has produced around 1,100,000 tonnes (metric tons) of acrylonitrile per year.  Demand has perhaps been 30% greater than this production, with the difference being made up by imports. The demand in China for acrylonitrile is expected to grow at about 7 to 8% per year.  Again from the internet, eleven production facilities have been identified, all located within petrochemical complexes, meaning sites with a petroleum supply.  The reported major uses of acrylonitrile are for acrylic fibers, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer (ABS), and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) production, used in carbon fiber production.  The sites with the facilities producing the acrylonitrile often also contain the facilities producing the fibers and polymers.  Most, if not all, of the acrylonitrile production uses propylene ammoxidation technology.  The eleven production sites are identified below and their suspected production capacities are reconciled with the presumed actual production amounts.

Five of the eleven acrylonitrile producing facilities are owned by, as subsidiaries, the giant, state-owned petroleum company PetroChina (China National Petroleum Corporation).  The five are: Jilin Petrochemical Co. (Jilin Province), with a acrylonitrile production capacity of 424,000 tonnes per year (the largest in China); Fushun Petrochemical Co. (Liaoning Province), production capacity, 94,000 tonnes per year; Daqing Petrochemical Co. (Heilongjiang Province), production capacity, 88,000 tonnes per year; Daqing Refinery and Chemical Co. (Heilongjiang Province), production capacity, 50,000 tonnes per year; and Lanzhou Petrochemical Co. (Gansu Province), production capacity, 31,200 tonnes per year.

Three of the eleven acrylonitrile production facilities belong to the other giant, state-owned petroleum company, SINOPEC (China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation).  These are:  Anqing Petrochemical Co.  (Anqing Province), production capacity, 210,000 tonnes per year; Shanghai Petrochemical Co. (Shanghai Municipality), 130,000 tonnes per year; and Qilu Petrochemical Co. (Shandong Province), production capacity, 80,000 tonnes per year.

The remaining three acrylonitrile production facilities are: Secco Petrochemical Co. (Shanghai Municipality), production capacity, 260,000 tonnes per year (the second highest in China); Qitai Petrochemical Co. (Shandong Province), production capacity, 8,000 tonnes per year; and Keyuan Petrochemical Co. (Zhejiang Province), production capacity unknown.

The total production capacity of these eleven facilities given above is 1,375,200 tonnes per year (the individual amounts are based on data found on the internet).  This capacity amount is above the 1,100,000 tonnes believed to be the recent amount produced in China.  But, these production facilities are unlikely to run at 100% capacity.  The capacity of these eleven plants agrees reasonably well with what is believed to be the actual production amount in China.

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