WR Grace (Grace), the leading independent supplier of polyolefin catalyst technology and polypropylene (PP) process technology, has announced that Oriental Energy has started up a new plant with Grace’s UNIPOL PP process technology. Located in Maoming, China, the new 400 kilotons per annum (KTA) reactor line began producing high-quality homopolymers and random copolymers on September 15, 2023.

Oriental Energy now operates four sites utilising the UNIPOL PP technology offering 1.6 million tons of PP licensed capacity: 400 KTA at Zhangjiagang (which started up in 2015); two 400 KTA reactor lines in Ningbo (which started up in 2021); and the new plant in Maoming. Oriental Energy currently holds the largest total UNIPOL PP process technology capacity in operation in China, the company said in a press release.

"The collaboration with Oriental Energy towards the successful start-up in Maoming marks another milestone in our partnership. Our advanced PP process technology delivers on our Plant Lifetime Performance commitment, as evidenced by the longstanding relationship between our two companies,” Sandra Wisniewski, president of specialty catalysts at Grace, said.

"We appreciate the joint effort the Oriental Energy and Grace teams provided to ensure a successful start-up, demonstrating a catalysis reaction that occurred within 10 minutes of injection. This new UNIPOL PP technology line aligns with our commitment to providing quality polypropylene products in China,” Sun Canqian, general manager at Oriental Energy (Maoming),  said.

Oriental Energy selected UNIPOL polypropylene process technology because of its reliable production capabilities, cutting-edge PP technology, proven catalyst performance, and technical service. The process technology enables the production of high-performance polypropylene resins used for a variety of applications, such as automotive parts, packaging, consumer goods and infrastructure materials.