Virgin Acid Total 5,350 Recovered Acid Air Products, Calvert City, Ky. 125 Air Products, Pasadena, Tex. 80 Celanese, Narrows, Va. 330 Celanese, Rock Hill, S.C. 330 DuPont, LaPorte, Tex. Most commercial production of virgin synthetic acetic acid is based on methanol carbonylation. Recovered acetic acid represents an additional major supply.
Principal sources are the production of cellulose acetate and polyvinyl alcohol.
Minor sources include the production of acetaminophen, aspirin, and peracetic acid. Millennium Petrochemicals added 100 million pounds per year capacity at Deer Park, Tex., in 1998, bringing its total capacity to 1 billion pounds. In early 1999, Celanese announced that it would replace the current acetic acid plant in Edmonton, which is based on butane oxidation, with a 290 million pound facility using methanol carbonylation. The plans for the new plant, however, were canceled later that same year. Also in 1999, Sterling Chemical increased capacity at Texas City, Tex., by 25 percent, to 1 billion pounds per year.