Naco Synthetics and Chinese coal company Luan Group opened a polyalphaolefin plant late last month, a Shanxi province facility that uses coal-to-liquids feedstock.
The plant was designed with capacity of 15,000 metric tons per year and is making 150 centiStoke PAO for domestic heavy-duty diesel engine oils, a Naco official told Lube Report Asia. That product is marketed under Nacos SinoSyn brand and can be used as base stock or a viscosity improver.
The Shanxi plant, located in the city of Changzhi, is a 50-50 joint venture between Naco and Luan, operating as LuAn-Naco C1 Chemical Co. The plants feedstock comes from a coal-to-liquids plant that Luan operates nearby. Naco claims it is the worlds first CTL PAO project.
Naco also operates a wholly-owned PAO plant in Shanghai. That facility makes 40 cSt and 100 cSt PAO, some of which is marketed in the United States through Texas-based Novitas. Naco has said the CTL PAO would be aimed only at the domestic market.