China’s first LNG and ethylene heat and cold energy exchange station came online in Tianjin

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This post was last edited by Wise Ming on February 16, 2025, at 17:07. Recently, Sinopec put into operation the country’s first heat and cold energy exchange station in Nangang, Tianjin, with an annual processing capacity of over 2.6 million tons. This marks a significant breakthrough for Sinopec in the field of comprehensive utilization of cold energy. It is the first time in China that energy coupling has been achieved between an LNG receiving station and large-scale petrochemical production facilities; this setup allows for the savings of 13 million cubic meters of natural gas per year and 3 million kWh of electricity, holding important symbolic value for further promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of energy use. The project uses liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the cooling energy, the excess heat from the ethylene production facility as the heating energy, and clean energy in the form of methanol as an intermediate medium. During the production process, ethylene plants require cooling energy to cool the equipment and ensure safe operation, while LNG needs heat energy to convert the low-temperature liquid natural gas into a gaseous state. Traditional methods rely on energy-consuming devices for cooling and heating, whereas this project innovatively utilizes methanol to facilitate energy exchange in high- and low-temperature heat exchangers, creating a cycle of cold and hot energy that effectively reduces energy consumption and enables green production. Overcome the dual barriers of scale and distance in the utilization of LNG cold energy. This exchange station has achieved the highest domestic utilization rate of cold energy at 346 tons per hour, and it has also enabled long-distance cold energy transmission over a distance of 22 kilometers, completely changing the history of cold energy being used only on a small scale in our country. At the same time, thanks to the innovatively developed heat and cold exchange technology, the efficiency of cold energy conversion exceeds 95%, ranking first in China in terms of cold energy utilization rate, which further demonstrates the great potential of LNG for cold energy use. Next, Sinopec will continue to explore the comprehensive utilization of cold energy, light hydrocarbon separation, hydrogen liquefaction technologies, etc., to accelerate the green and low-carbon development of the petrochemical industry.