China MTO Promises Big Opportunity for Methanol Producers in U.S....

摘要

China's enormous methanol deficit will continue to grow as new MTO plants start up in the country, and U.S. producers will be well positioned to fill the gap, says Brandon Hughes, director of sales/synthesis gas catalysts, Americas at Clariant. China's MTO capacity will increase from 3 million m.t./year in 2014 to 9-12 million m.t./year by the end of 2015, Hughes says. He expects the rapid growth to continue, with the country's MTO plants' methanol consumption exceeding 22 million m.t./year by 2019. MTO plants in China back-integrated into coal-to-olefins (CTO) plants are generally located far inland and close to cheap, stranded coal. However, 12 MTO projects now in development would outsource all of their methanol requirements, Hughes says.