Thread Content
As of 6:00 on December 31, 2025, Sinopec Guangdong Petrochemical Company has delivered an outstanding performance: under the challenging conditions of processing 46 different types of crude oils from around the world, the annual production volumes of the company’s three key facilities for crude oil processing, ethylene production, and aromatic compounds all exceeded world-class standards. With its capability to achieve excellence in all three areas, the company has demonstrated to the world its outstanding skills in processing complex raw materials, operating large-scale domestic equipment, and producing high-end chemical products. The ethylene production volume at chemical plants reached 1.4137 million tons; large-scale domestic facilities led the industry in terms of energy efficiency, and these ethylene production units achieved success in their first operations. As of 6:00 on December 29, 2025, the annual production of the 1.2 million tons per year ethylene plant had exceeded 1.4 million tons, indicating that this ethylene plant, designed, constructed, and operated independently in China, has reached an advanced level in terms of long-term operation, high capacity, and efficient performance. This plant has been recognized as a benchmark enterprise for energy efficiency in China’s energy and chemical industry for two consecutive years. Since 2025, ethylene plants have faced multiple challenges such as diversified raw materials and large market fluctuations, while continuing to operate safely and at high capacity. By establishing a refined management system characterized by goal guidance, problem orientation, and result-based closure, innovating cross-departmental collaboration mechanisms, and setting up regular collaboration processes of \"daily communication, weekly coordination, and monthly review\" with upstream and downstream entities, an efficient collaborative production support system has been created. In terms of technological innovation, the facility relies on technological advancements to boost production capacity. To address the key bottlenecks affecting the operation of the equipment, technical staff formed a dedicated task force and successfully carried out various technical upgrades, including the modification of the methane-rich gas recovery system and the optimization of the ethylene vapor filtration system. Among these measures, precise control of the oxygen content in the pyrolysis furnace was implemented, keeping it within the optimal range of 1.5% to 2%, which significantly reduced fuel consumption ; To address the serious ash accumulation in the convection section of the pyrolyzer under high-load operation, chemical cleaning technology was innovatively adopted, enabling the thermal efficiency of the heater to remain above 94% consistently. These technological advancements not only improved the operational stability of the equipment but also reduced the number of coking clean-ups in the pyrolysis furnace by 5 times compared to the same period last year, resulting in significant cost savings. Adhering to the philosophy that \"everyone is a manager,\" the facility has established an innovation-driven problem-solving mechanism covering all areas such as processes, equipment, and instruments. From operational optimization to equipment improvement, and from energy conservation and consumption reduction to quality enhancement, employees actively offered their ideas and suggestions; in total, more than 200 such improvement proposals were implemented, effectively solving practical problems in the production process. In terms of quality management, by establishing a comprehensive quality monitoring system throughout the production process, the precision of product separation is continuously improved, resulting in purity levels for key products such as ethylene and propylene that are consistently above the design values. The product qualification rate remains at 100%, and the capacity to supply high-quality chemical raw materials is further enhanced. The technical team conducted in-depth research on energy conservation and consumption reduction for the plant. Through comprehensive measures such as optimizing the operating parameters of the cracking furnace, improving the operation of the quenching system, and enhancing the waste heat recovery network, the overall energy consumption of the plant was reduced by about 5% compared to the design values, which translates to annual savings of over 100,000 tons of standard coal. In terms of environmental protection, measures such as optimizing the operation of the flare system and improving waste gas treatment devices have resulted in a 15% reduction in the emissions of volatile organic compounds from the facility compared to the previous year, demonstrating the practical achievements of green development in large-scale petrochemical facilities. The output of primary aromatics amounted to 2.628 million tons. Driven by both technological advancements and the development of skilled talent, aromatics also set new records, following in the footsteps of ethylene. As of 16:30 on December 29, 2025, the total production of p-xylene (PX) had exceeded 2.6 million tons, while the production of benzene products had surpassed 760,000 tons, representing a 3% increase on a year-on-year basis. As an important aromatic hydrocarbon production base in Asia, the facilities managed to overcome numerous challenges in 2025. Faced with the problem of solvent contamination in the extraction units at the beginning of the year, the department’s party committee promptly formed a \"efficiency and production improvement\" task force. By using online purification technologies, it managed to significantly reduce the level of harmful substances in the system. This not only saved over 600,000 yuan in costs and reduced solid waste emissions, but also ensured the long-term safe operation of the equipment from the root level. To address the bottleneck issue of the key separation unit, Column C-8003, not operating at its designed capacity, an optimization team composed of experienced process engineers carried out a series of precise adjustments, including reorganizing the components within the distillation column, optimizing the reflux ratio, and improving the control strategies for the heating furnaces. As a result, the separation efficiency of the column was significantly enhanced, the proportion of heavy components in the feed material decreased, and the annual production of PX increased by nearly 50,000 tons, enabling the plant to operate with high load, high output, and high quality. These optimization measures, combined with the continuous improvement in energy efficiency of equipment such as heat exchangers and heating furnaces, helped the aromatic compounds processing plant win the titles of \"Leader\" in both energy efficiency and water efficiency for key products in the petroleum and chemical industry in 2024, right from its first application. In terms of talent development, the department has innovatively established a three-in-one training model of \"assessment—motivation—inheritance\", which has effectively improved the skill levels of the team. Key indicators such as the rate of technicians obtaining relevant certifications have seen significant increases compared to the previous year, providing solid talent support for the continuous and stable high production of the facility. Crude oil processing at the refining front line exceeded 20.061 million tons; the efficient conversion of heavy and low-quality oils set a benchmark. In the field of refining, the outstanding performance of the two atmospheric and vacuum distillation units ensured a successful conclusion to annual production. As of 6:00 on December 31, 2025, the company’s annual crude oil processing volume exceeded 20 million tons. Since its commissioning three years ago, the atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit of Refinery Unit 1 has processed a total of 46 different types of crude oil sourced from 17 countries, with the overall processing volume exceeding 56 million tons. This has provided strong support for the implementation of the group company’s strategic plans for the southern region during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It has also contributed to ensuring energy security and promoting economic development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Moreover, its high-quality production performance has laid a solid foundation for building a world-class refining and chemical enterprise. Faced with the challenges of processing low-quality crude oils characterized by high sulfur, high nitrogen, high residual carbon, and high acid value, and especially given the continuous increase in plant load since the fourth quarter, the two atmospheric and vacuum distillation units have maintained safe and stable operation at high loads, with the maximum processing load remaining above 105% for an extended period. Under the overall leadership of the departmental Party committee, all employees strengthened their sense of responsibility, continuously optimized operational procedures, and fine-tuned quality parameters, thereby effectively overcoming various challenges such as high temperatures during summer production, elevated pressure levels, and overloading of the vacuum furnaces. Through flexible production scheduling and continuous inspections by all staff, as well as the implementation of specialized initiatives such as \"Finding hidden dangers is like finding gold\" and \"Detecting unusual odors is also like finding gold\", a robust safety and environmental protection framework for the facility has been established. While striving for higher production volumes, the company places greater emphasis on product quality and structural optimization. Focusing on the \"reduce oil content and enhance quality\" strategy, the technical team of Refining Unit 1 has taken a series of measures, including optimizing the vacuum system, applying reduced-pressure deep distillation techniques, strictly controlling the exit temperature of the reduced-pressure furnace, and precisely adjusting the operations of the side streams in the atmospheric tower and reduced-pressure towers. These efforts have enabled continuous improvements in the dry point of naphtha as well as the quality and yield of key fractions such as those from Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3 under reduced pressure. As a result, high-quality raw materials are supplied to downstream aromatic and ethylene production units, facilitating synergistic benefits across the refining and chemical processing processes. In addition, through continuous technological upgrades, the company’s asphalt processing capacity has been doubled compared to the design level, significantly enhancing the competitiveness of its products; this has enabled it to initially achieve the transformation goal of producing high-quality products from basic raw materials. Zhao Rui, manager of Refining Department 1, said, “Since the beginning of this year, we have carried out various technical efforts and process optimizations aimed at ensuring the long-term operation of the facilities and improving product quality, thereby successfully managing the production fluctuations caused by frequent changes in crude oil sources.” We always regard production challenges as a ‘grinding stone’, using them to strengthen our team and enhance our capabilities through overcoming difficulties. ”Next, Refining Department 1 will continue to drive technological and managerial innovation in order to make greater contributions to ensuring **energy security and supporting the high-quality development of the regional economy. In 2025, the three main production units of Guangdong Petrochemical achieved new record levels of output, which coincides with an important historical moment when the 14th Five-Year Plan comes to an end and the 15th Five-Year Plan is about to begin. This achievement not only reflects the company’s comprehensive capabilities in areas such as the processing of complex raw materials, the operation of large-scale domestically produced equipment, the production of high-end chemical products, as well as technological innovation and talent development, but it also lays a solid foundation for China’s petrochemical industry to achieve a high level of scientific and technological self-reliance and strength in the new era and on the new journey, thereby facilitating the optimization and upgrading of its industrial chains.