# Paraxylene

The xylene isomer that becomes PTA and then polyester fibre and PET bottles; China now holds well over half of world capacity.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/

Commodity chemicals · Aromatics · No. 28

- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 57 Mt a year of demand (2024, indicative, basis: PTA demand x 0.66 t PX per t PTA)
- 1.4 t CO₂e per t
- HS 290243
 Commodity chemicals · Aromatics · Foundation · Matter

Nearly every polyester shirt and plastic water bottle begins as one fussy molecule pulled out of refinery naphtha.

Chart: Illustration: Paraxylene

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

PX hides in the mixed xylenes that a refinery reformer makes from naphtha. Its siblings boil within a degree of it, so plants use zeolite beds that grab PX and recover over 97% per pass.

##### Three things to know

1. About 97% of all paraxylene is turned into PTA, so its fortunes rise and fall with polyester clothing and PET bottles.
2. China reached close to 47 Mt a year of PX capacity in 2024, yet still bought 9.6 Mt from abroad in 2025.
3. As Chinese plants arrived, the margin over naphtha shrank from $462 a tonne in 2018 to $283 in 2024.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Crude oil**Refined into heavy naphtha for reformers
2. 2 **Reformer**Naphtha becomes benzene, toluene and mixed xylenes
3. 3 **PX separation**Zeolite beds pick out PX at 99.7%
4. 4 **PTA**About 0.66 t PX per tonne PTA
5. 5 **Polyester**PTA plus MEG gives fibre, bottles, film
 Covered in [How a chemical process works: reactions, separations, catalysts and flowsheetsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/how-chemical-processes-work/)[From building blocks to plastics, fibres and detergentsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/building-blocks-to-polymers/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/links/index.md)