Celanese Plans Ethanol Production Facilities in China, U.S.

SHANGHAI, Celanese Corporation, a global leader in chemicals industry, intends to build production facilities in China and the U.S. for production of ethanol for chemical application and other industrial uses by virtue of its recently developed technology.

This technology builds on the company's industry-leading acetyl platform and integrates new technologies to produce ethanol by using basic hydrocarbon feedstocks.

Ethanol is widely used in chemical and industrial applications including the manufacture of paints, coatings, inks and pharmaceuticals.

After obtaining related regulatory approvals, Celanese intends to construct one or two industrial ethanol complexes in China to serve the fast-growing Asian market. Each complex's initial annual production capacity is expected to be around 400,000 tons.

The annual consumption of industrial ethanol in China is estimated to be approximately 3 million tons at an annualized growth pace of between 8% and 10%.

Celanese also plans to construct an about 40,000-ton industrial ethanol production device at its Clear Lake facility for either Internal use or commercial demand.

Source: dycj.ynet.com