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According to Southwest Research Institute, on March 18, 2025, Southwest Chemical Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. won the bid for Anhui Haoyuan Chemical Group Co., Ltd.’s 800,000 tons per year acetic acid production project, thanks to its strong patent portfolio and technological leadership in the acetic acid sector. The scope of the winning bid includes the licensing of patented acetic acid technology, engineering design, and the provision of catalyst stabilizers. This is another large-scale acetic acid project won by Southwest Research Institute, following the signing of a contract for a 600,000-ton/year acetic acid project with Zhongrong New Energy (Kekedala) Co., Ltd. in January this year. As the pioneer and leader in China’s technology for producing acetic acid via methanol carbonylation, Southwest Research Institute continues to carry out research and development aimed at upgrading this acetic acid production technology. In recent years, the Southwest Research Institute has been continuously working on the technology for producing acetic acid via low-pressure carbonylation of methanol. It has developed a new generation of catalyst-stabilizer systems, upgraded the reactors, and successfully created the CARBO@smart III technology for acetic acid production. Through optimizations of evaporation, distillation, and absorption systems as well as energy coupling, this technology has significantly reduced the energy consumption of acetic acid production facilities and the use of precious metal catalysts, thereby enabling cost reduction, improved efficiency, and more efficient utilization of resources. At present, the acetic acid production capacity built based on the acetic acid technology of the Southwest Research Institute accounts for over 50% of China’s total acetic acid production capacity. The main products of Anhui Haoyuan Chemical Group Co., Ltd. include liquid ammonia, urea, compound fertilizers, methanol, ethylene glycol and hydrogen peroxide, dimethyl ether, styrene, polystyrene, PBAT biodegradable plastics, nylon 66 (PA66), polyester resin for bottle manufacturing (PET), isopropylamine, morpholine, diglyme, and N-methyloxymorpholine. Among them, the urea and methanol products are well-known brand products in Anhui Province.