Celanese, the US-based chemicals company, has signed letters of intent to construct industrial ethanol production facilities in Nanjing and Zhuhai. If approved, each plant will involve an investment of US$300m and will have a capacity of 400,000 tons a year.

Industrial ethanol is used in chemical and industrial applications for the manufacture of paints, coatings, inks and pharmaceuticals. Current demand for industrial ethanol in China is about 3m tons annually and is expected to grow at 8-10 per cent a year.

In 2007 Celanese opened an integrated chemical complex in Nanjing, its largest such facility in the world. It makes a range of products including acetic acid, vinyl acetate, acetic anhydride, reinforced thermoplastics and polyethylene.