World-Class Acrylonitrile Unit Hopefully
              to Be Constructed in This Century
Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd.   of  SINOPEC  planned  to
construct a 260 000 t/a acrylonitrile unit  based  on  the
propylene resources from the joint  venture  650  000  t/a
ethylene project in the next century.   However,   judging
from  the  supply  and  demand  of  acrylonitrile  in  the
domestic market, the  construction  of  the  acrylonitrile
unit will be done ahead of schedule.  Propylene  resources
will be partially from the second  capacity  expansion  of
the existing ethylene unit. The demand of acrylonitrile is
around 400 000 tons in acrylic fiber production alone, but
the capacity of acrylonitrile was only 280 000 t/a in 1997
. Besides, there is also a considerable  demand  in  rubber
  and  plastic  sectors.   It  is  therefore  necessary  to
construct a technically advanced world-class acrylonitrile
unit in China.