China: Speciality Chemicals Sasol to Construct Alkoxylation Facility in China

South Africa's integrated chemicals and energy company, Sasol, began construction of its new alkoxylation plant in Nanjing, China.

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Nanjing/China — The new plant is expected to be fully operational in early 2019, the company announced. The new production unit is expected to modernise and expand Sasol’s current alkoxylation capacity, research and development facility and technical support capability in Nanjing.

The ground breaking ceremony on June 8 was presided by Fleetwood Grobler, Executive Vice President of Chemicals Business, Sasol, and attended by Miao Ruilin, the Mayor of Nanjing; Dolana Msimang, the South African Ambassador to China; representatives from South African diplomatic missions in China and NCIP officials.

With this strategic investment, the manufacturer intends to strengthen its position in China and better meet the growing demand for specialty chemicals in this market.

The project entails the construction of an alkoxylation plant with a capacity of approximately 150 kilo tons per annum (ktpa), with the option of using either branched or linear alcohols to meet differentiated customer requirements in applications, such as detergent, personal care, textiles and leather, metal working and lubrication, paper inks and coatings and the oil and gas recovery markets.

“With China’s economy forecast to represent 40 % of the world chemical demand by 2020 and its on-going shift towards high value and differentiated segments, China is an important market for Sasol,” said Fleetwood Grobler, Executive Vice President of Chemicals Business, Sasol. “The new production unit will more than double Sasol’s alkoxylation production capacity and Sasol’s state of the art technology offers our business partners significant benefits in terms of safety, reliability and flexibility.”

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