China's Zhenhai district government said Sunday it had halted construction of a paraxylene plant in Ningbo planned by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, amid growing environmental concerns.
The government said that it would conduct additional research on the project.
The PX plant with a capacity 1.6 million mt/year was scheduled to come on stream in 2014.
According to local media reports, demonstrators blocked traffic over the weekend in Ningbo protesting against the project on environmental grounds.
PX is a toxic petrochemical and is a key feedstock for purified terephthalic acid. PTA is used to produce polyester.
