The current situation of liquefied gas aromatization and naphtha aromatization in the country
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I’m not aware of the current operating status of the liquefied gas aromatization and naphtha aromatization units. The liquefied gas aromatization unit in our plant has been shut down for a long time; later, after technical upgrades, the naphtha aromatization unit was put into operation for testing, but for some reason it stopped working and has not been restarted since. To this day, those units remain idle. Let’s discuss possible solutions for the aromatization process.
I’m not sure what the current operating rate of aromatization units in China is, and what causes these units to remain idle
Where are you from? Things are running pretty well here
The octane number of the products from the aromatization unit is not very high
The rising costs of aromatization raw materials, combined with falling product prices, have led to increasingly narrow profit margins or even negative ones, resulting in high shutdown rates for aromatization processes. This indicates that the traditional crude-processing method is gradually being replaced by more refined processing techniques; unless there are structural changes in the resources available to the petrochemical industry, aromatization processes will continue to be phased out in the future.
There are many cases of aromatization to modify naphtha hydrogenation, as well as many cases of isomerization for modification. Whether to start operations or not depends mainly on the profits.
In many cases, it’s not that the aromatization units don’t work; rather, many people simply don’t understand the market. Aromatization processes are always profitable, and profits increase even more when there are tax rebates. It’s best to first understand the market for naphtha before deciding to produce it in a targeted manner. Many people just follow what others do without truly understanding how aromatization works; they pretend to know everything. For example, if one uses residual oil in aromatization processes, can that really be profitable? Another question is why C5-C6 materials aren’t used in reforming processes, while aromatization can use them. After aromatization, naphtha is obtained, which can then be used to adjust the composition of other oils. The remaining C7-C9 materials can simply be sold as feedstock for reforming processes. The octane rating of these materials is quite high, so they can be separated out in this way. There are many such approaches. Additionally, if the goal is simply to adjust the oil composition, it’s possible to determine the appropriate separation method based on the process flow. If there are too many components within the 70-180°C range, those can also be separated out for use in adjusting oil compositions. In short, there are no unprofitable processes – it’s only those who don’t know how to operate them properly that fail to make a profit
That’s absolutely true; many devices do generate profits, but those people simply don’t understand how they work. What a pity for the Chinese people!