Zhejiang Zhengkai starts up Chongqing PET plant

Chinese producer Zhejiang Zhengkai's subsidiary Chongqing Wankai is starting up today its new 600,000 t/yr polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle chip plant.

Feedstock purified terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol was fed into the Chongqing plant in southwest China today, with Wankai targeting on-specification production by the end of this month.

The project has a design capacity of 1.2mn t/yr of PET bottle chip, including two 600,000 t/yr production lines. Total investment is 3.6bn yuan ($507mn).

The phase one 600,000 t/yr PET bottle chip plant started construction in January 2019 and finished this year. But the coronavirus outbreak in China delayed its start-up plan from mid-February to this month because of a lack of workers.

Zhejiang Zhengkai will be the second-largest PET bottle chip producer in China following the Chongqing start-up behind Jiangsu Sanfangxiang. Zhejiang Zhengkai currently operates three PET bottle chip units with a total capacity of 1.25mn t/yr in east China's Zhejiang province.