CPC Corporation, a Taiwanese petrochemical major restarted its No. 4 naphtha-fed steam cracker on July 6th after being shut last week.
The company unexpectedly shut its No. 4 cracker due to technical glitches on 2 July, 2020.
Based in Linyuan, Taiwan, the cracker is able to produce 380,000 tons per year of ethylene and 193,000 tons per year of propylene. Initially, the shutdown period was slated for around 7 days.
The cracker supplies to two monoyethylene glycol (MEG) plants in Taiwan viz. Oriental Union Chemical Corporation (OUCC)’s 250,000 tons per year plant and China Man-made Fiber Corporation (CMFC)’s 400,000 tons per year plant. The shutdown caused both MEG plants to reduce production rate to around 70-80% according to market sources.
The company also operates another cracker at the same site – No. 3 cracker, which has an ethylene capacity of 720,000 tons per year and propylene capacity of 370,000 tons per year.
Last November, CPC Corporation took one of its naphtha crackers off-stream for major maintenance work. The No. 4 cracker was expected to remain offline for about 65 days.