In the midsummer of 2026, on a construction site in the Tongzhou Bay Green Chemical Expansion Zone in Jiangsu, tower cranes stood tall and vehicles shuttled back and forth. This place was about to welcome a "giant" that would reshape the high-end new material landscape in East China - Lanhai New Materials (Tongzhou Bay) Co., Ltd. officially announced the environmental impact assessment for its ethane/light hydrocarbon comprehensive utilization project to produce high-end chemical new materials. This cutting-edge enterprise, established in 2024 and affiliated with China National Petroleum Corporation, is quietly embarking on a full-chain industrial transformation from light raw materials to high-value new materials.

Billions of investment to build a full-chain production capacity matrix

According to the public announcement, the project is located within the Tongzhou Bay Green Chemical Expansion Zone (main port), with a total investment of up to 2,224,049,000 yuan. It will make full use of the reserved land in the existing factory area for construction. The core of the project is a 1 million ton/year ethylene cracking unit, which will serve as the leading facility and extend downwards to form a dense product network. Supporting projects include a 200,000 ton/year cracked gasoline hydrogenation (including aromatics extraction) unit, as well as a 60,000 ton/year butadiene extraction unit, a 60,000/20,000 ton/year MTBE/butene-1 unit, and a 200,000 ton/year synthetic ammonia unit. Utility and auxiliary facilities will be synchronized to ensure the smooth operation of the entire production chain.

"Double-track approach, new material production line targeting high-end gaps"

In the downstream deep processing of ethylene, the project layout is particularly eye-catching. Two FDPE plants are planned to be constructed, utilizing gas-phase and liquid-phase processes respectively, with corresponding capacities of 400,000 tons/year and 200,000 tons/year, forming a flexible product mix. What is more noteworthy is that the project also includes a 100,000 tons/year gas-phase POE plant, a 300,000 tons/year PP plant, and a 50,000 tons/year low-cis rubber plant. This series of production lines are not simply about capacity expansion, but are directly aimed at high-end new chemical materials such as polyolefin elastomers, with the intention of promoting product upgrades towards higher added value. Among them, the POE plant will produce ethylene-octene copolymers, while the FDPE plant using the solution-process octene copolymerization technology will produce metallocene polyethylene - both types of products have long relied on imports and have high technical thresholds.

Breaking monopoly with proprietary technology, electric drive and emission reduction anchor a green future

In terms of the technical route, all production units of this project adopt processes independently developed by PetroChina, selecting mature, advanced, economically reasonable, and efficient clean technology solutions, aiming to break through the monopoly of relevant foreign technologies. The raw material side is mainly composed of self-owned and imported ethane, LPG, and other light hydrocarbons, with high lightness and excellent quality, which provides significant advantages in ethylene production costs and strong market competitiveness for the products. In terms of energy efficiency and emission reduction, the three machines of the ethylene plant adopt electric drive configurations, significantly improving the overall electrification level of the project. After subsequent coupling with green electricity applications, carbon dioxide emissions can be significantly reduced. Upon completion and commissioning, the project will not only help PetroChina expand the high-end new material market in East China but also promote the healthy development of the domestic new material industry, aligning with the general direction of the transformation and upgrading of the refining and chemical industry.

It is worth mentioning that the overall construction progress of the high-end polyolefin new material project currently under construction by Lanhai New Materials (Tongzhou Bay) Co., Ltd. has reached 91.2%, demonstrating the company's deep commitment and efficient execution in Tongzhou Bay. With the advancement of this one-million-ton project, this coastal hotspot is expected to become an important pole in China's high-end new material landscape. Edited by Yang Beihua