Anhui Hwasu's New PVC Plant in China to be Based on Arkema's S-PVC Technology

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Anhui Hwasu Company Limited, a subsidiary of China's state-owned coal-mining group Huaibei Mining (Group) Company Limited (Huaibei, China), intends to operate its upcoming polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production plant based on the production process developed by chemical company Arkema SA (OTC:ARKAY) (Paris, France). With a production capacity of 1 million tons per year, the plant, when completed, will be the world's largest PVC production plant. The project is being developed at Luquaio in the Anhui province of China. The process license has been acquired and covers the basic engineering, operation of the Arkema technology, and technical assistance during startup. The first phase of the two-phase project will be commissioned in 2011.

Engineering and construction company Aker Solutions SA (OSL:AKSO) (Lysaker, Norway) has been contracted to prepare the basic front-end engineering for the plant. The contract is part of the global cooperation agreement signed between Arkema and Aker Solutions in November 2008. Under the terms of the agreement, Arkema will provide the client with its proprietary PVC technology and technical services during startup. Additional engineering and construction contracts will probably be awarded to Chinese firms.

The Anhui Hwasu PVC production plant is one among three other plants in a large chemical project. The plants include a power plant, a vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) production plant, and an upstream chlorine soda electrolysis plant.

Arkema's PVC suspension process makes it one of the most efficient PVC technologies available today. The technology is based on Arkema's long-standing knowledge of PVC production, and a plant using the technology is guaranteed to produce various types of PVC grades with consistent good quality. Known as S-PVC, the technology ensures the consumption of low quantities of raw materials and VCM, and allows the licensee to minimize investment costs.

S-PVC is a batch process and complies with international environmental regulations, which makes it especially attractive. S-PVC's process of polymerization is simple and reduces the non-productive time of the cycle. The process can ensure a production of 170,000 tons per year with just two reactors, leading to easier operation and lower maintenance costs. The stripping column is highly efficient and ensures almost complete extraction of VCM from the PVC grains. Unlike other technologies that require frequent cleaning operations while changing PVC grades, the Arkema process requires only a rinse. The VCM that is not polymerized in the reactor, blow down tank and stripping column is recompressed without using a gas holder. This eliminates a piece of equipment that can cause VCM to be released suddenly, resulting in permanent diffuse emissions of VCM. The Arkema S-PVC technology guarantees low emissions of VCM because of the closed polymerization process, the monomer extraction that takes places in a stripping column, and the treatment of vent gases on an activated carbon adsorption column.

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