Commissioning of the energy-saving and consumption-reducing renovation project for caprolactam production at Lu’an Taihua New Materials

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Recently, the energy-saving and consumption-reduction renovation project to increase the capacity of the caprolactam production unit at Lu’an Chemical’s Taiyuan New Chemical Materials Company from 100,000 tons per year to 200,000 tons per year was completed successfully in just one attempt, with the plant reaching full operational capacity right away. Taiyuan Chemical New Materials Company officially launched the caprolactam energy-saving and consumption-reduction renovation project in March 2025. After 11 months of hard work, the project succeeded in its first trial run on February 10 this year, and officially reached full production capacity on March 15. Following the technical upgrades, the production capacity of Line A for caprolactam increased from 100,000 tons per year to 200,000 tons per year, thereby eliminating the issue of limited capacity that existed previously. At the same time, the consumption of key materials such as steam, liquid ammonia, and cyclohexanone was significantly reduced; the consumption of steam in particular dropped by 50%, bringing its level up to the advanced standards of the domestic industry. According to the environmental impact assessment document approved by the Taiyuan Administrative Approval and Service Administration in December 2025, Shanxi Taihua New Materials will carry out energy-saving and consumption-reduction measures for caprolactam production by modifying the oxime synthesis process, purification process, and ammonium sulfate production process in Unit A of the two existing plants with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year. 116 new pieces of equipment will be installed, 37 pieces of equipment will be replaced (3 of which are reused), and 5 pieces of equipment will be upgraded. Energy savings and reduced consumption in the facility are achieved through the addition of a new hot water system, the reorganization of the existing hot water system, and four-effect evaporation. Lu’an Chemical Taihua New Materials has two 100,000-ton/year caprolactam production units. Caprolactam is produced using an advanced domestic benzene-cyclohexene-cyclohexanone aminoximation process route to manufacture caprolactam and polyamide 6. It was completed and put into operation in 2017.