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Along with Wanhua Chemical, KBR achieved successful start-up of a phenol and acetone plant in just eight days.

In December 2018, KBR, the world's leading supplier of phenol and acetone technology, signed an agreement with Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. to provide technology to build a 650 KTA phenol/acetone plant in Yantai City, Shandong Province in China. The project began in September 2020. Despite the shadow of COVID-19, through the joint efforts of Wanhua Chemical and KBR teams, the plant began producing qualified products in only eight days, a record for the fastest ever start-up using KBR's phenol acetone technology, assuring the highest execution quality.

"We are pleased to offer our superior phenol-acetone technology to Wanhua Chemical, and we look forward to working with them to deliver the next world-class project in record time,” said Doug Kelly, president of KBR’s Technology business unit.

With the successful one-time start-up of the bisphenol A (BPA) integration project and the production of qualified products, the month of November 2022 marks the successful completion of a phenol-acetone and BPA-polycarbonate industry chain for Wanhua. The project’s overall 27-day start-up time was shorter than the industry best and stands tall as a new record for the best project and product quality, the shortest start-up time, and the highest safety performance.

"This is exciting news, and I’d like to extend heartfelt congratulations to Wanhua Chemical and our team at KBR,” said Li Tang, director of Chemical Technology with KBR Technology. “We will be working closely and consistently with Wanhua to elevate the plant performance and yields, while supporting them to emerge as the world’s best, most efficient and profitable phenol plants."

Chen Huiwen, supervisor of Phenol/Acetone Process with Wanhua Chemical, said, "Starting the phenol-acetone plant smoothly couldn’t have been possible without the strong support of KBR's technical team, who fully demonstrated professional knowledge in the process design and on-site inspection stages. They also helped us solve many technical problems. A huge shout-out to them for their efforts.”

KBR is a global technology licensor that has been offering leading-edge phenol and acetone technology for over 60 years, with more than 50 phenol projects worldwide. This project further raises the standard and exemplifies the KBR company value, “We Deliver.”