Taiwan's state-owned CPC is currently running its No. 5 naphtha-fed steam cracker in Kaohsiung at around 85-90% of capacity following a restart over the weekend, company sources said Monday.
The cracker, is able to produce 500,000 mt/year of ethylene and 250,000 mt/year of propylene, was shut August 10 for a scheduled turnaround.
With this maintenance, CPC has now completed two of the three steam cracker turnarounds it has planned for this year.
Besides the No. 5 unit, CPC has two other naphtha-fed steam crackers, the No. 3 and No. 4 units, which are both located in Lin Yuan. The No. 3 unit can produce 230,000 mt/year of ethylene and 115,000 mt/year of propylene, while the No. 4 unit has a design capacity of 380,000 mt/year of ethylene and 193,000 mt/year of propylene.
The No. 3 unit was taken offline at the end of March for a 30-35 day maintenance, while the No. 4 cracker is scheduled for a month-long turnaround which will begin around end-December, Platts reported previously.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's other steam cracker operator, privately owned Formosa Petrochemical Corp., restarted on September 21 its No. 1 unit in Mailiao following a shutdown May 12 due to a fire at an LPG pipeline, Platts reported previously. The steam cracker is able to produce 700,000 mt/year of ethylene and 350,000 mt/year of propylene.
