MOSCOW (MRC) -- Xylene splitter, a xylene separation tower used to produce aromatics, has been installed by the Jurong Aromatic Corporation (JAC) in Jurong Island, the petrochemical hub of Singapore, as per Fibretofashion.
The splitter weighing 1,147 tonnes is 108m tall and has a diameter of 8m. On completion of the Jurong Aromatic plant in early 2014, the plant is expected to produce 800,000 tpa of paraxylene, which will be supplied to textile manufacturers.
The xylene splitter was installed by the company as part of its USD 2.4 billion Jurong aromatic project in the island. The project was scheduled to start its operations by August 2011 but was delayed due to financial crisis.
As MRC reported earlier, after a three-year delay caused by the credit squeeze during the global financial crisis, Jurong Aromatics' new petrochemicals project in Singapore was finally launched with strong support from Korea. The project involves development of a condensate splitter and aromatics facility on Jurong Island, with production capacity of 1.5 mln tpa aromatics and 2.5 mln tonnes of fuel.
The major investors of the project are Korea’s SK Group, with a 30% stake, Chinese polyester maker Jiangsu Sanfangxiang Group, which holds 25%, Glencore International with a 10% share in the project, Arovin and Shefford Investments (equity investment houses based in India) with about 10% stake each, 5% stake held by the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the balance 10% is held by other minority shareholders based across the region.
Paraxylene is an aromatic hydrocarbon used for manufacturing purified terephthalic acid (PTA).
MRC