China’s Sichuan Vinylon Works, a Sinopec subsidiary, has successfully started integrated operations at its 300,000 tonne/year vinyl acetate (monomer) (VAM) facility at southwestern Chongqing on 13 July, Sinopec said on Monday.

The plants that are operating with the VAM facility include a 100,000 tonne/year acetylene plant, a 100,000 tonne/year polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) plant and a 770,000 tonne/year methanol plant, Sinopec said in a newsletter on its website.

The methanol plant was the last to be started up, with the other three started up in June, it said.

With the new facility now coming on stream, Sichuan Vinylon Works is able to produce 500,000 tonnes/year of VAM and 160,000 tonnes/year of PVOH, making it the biggest producer in China and the second largest in the world, according to Sinopec.

China so far has a total capacity of 2m tonnes/year of VAM and 900,000 tonnes/year of PVOH.