China's Zhongke to shut cracker and downstream PP, PE units on technical difficulties

It is reported that  Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has unexpectedly taken its No. 1 PP unit in Guangdong Province offstream on 12 October 2020 - just a week after recovering from the earlier explosion at the Ethylene Oxide (EO) line that affected the entire complex.

The No. 1 PP line has an annual capacity of 350,000 tons/year. 

Meanwhile, the No. 2 PP unit with 200,000 tons/year output are operating at stable rates. 

A source close to the company informed that its 1 million tons/year cracker would also be taken offline on 20 October 2020 due to a persistent technical difficulty. The restart date is not acertain at the time of this report. The shutdown at the cracker would also affect the downstream 350,000 tons/year HDPE/LLDPE swing unit. 

Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical has been attempting to start-up the newly constructed plant since June 2020. The producer might need more time to reach stable production.