Announcement on a crude oil adaptation project at Sinopec!
Thread Content
On January 7, the full text of the environmental impact assessment report and the information regarding public participation for Sinopec Hainan Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd.’s crude oil adaptation project were made public. Project Name: Hainan Refining & Chemicals Crude Oil Adaptation Upgrade ProjectNature of Construction: Technical upgrade
Location of Construction: Within the refinery complex of Sinopec Hainan Refining & Chemicals Co., Ltd.
Scope of Construction: This project aims to increase the sulfur content in the crude oil used by Hainan Refining & Chemicals from 1.0 w% to 1.5 w%. Material upgrades and adaptation modifications will be carried out on six units, namely atmospheric and vacuum distillation, residue hydrogenation, Hydrocracker No. 1, desulfurization and dewaxing, acidic water stripping, and solvent regeneration. A new non-hydrogenated acidic water stripping unit (Series C) with a capacity of 80 t/h will be added to the acidic water stripping unit, while a desulfurization II solvent regeneration unit (Series C) with a capacity of 250 t/h will be added to the solvent regeneration unit. The associated utility systems, storage and transportation facilities, and auxiliary equipment will make use of those already existing. Project investment: 683.65 million yuan. Construction period: 1 year. Annual operating hours: 8,400 hours. After decades of development, Hainan Refining & Chemical has 25 oil refining and chemical production units, along with associated oil storage and transportation facilities and utility systems. Its current capacity for processing crude oil is 8 million tons per year. It possesses a 300,000-ton crude oil terminal and a 100,000-ton refined oil terminal; in total, there are 7 berths, including one 300,000-ton crude oil berth and one 100,000-ton refined oil berth, giving an annual handling capacity of around 30.343 million tons. The ethylene plant comprises 10 chemical processing units, with an ethylene processing capacity of 1 million tons per year. It has 4 berths: 1 LPG berth with a capacity of 50,000 tons, 2 berths for liquid chemicals each with a capacity of 20,000 tons, and 1 berth for general cargo and heavy goods with a capacity of 30,000 tons. The designed handling capacity for liquid bulk goods is 435 tons per year, while that for general cargo and roll-on cargo is 1.252 million tons per year. Hainan Refining & Chemical’s current design specifications require that the sulfur content of the crude oil processed be only 1.0 w%, with an acid value of <0.5 mgKOH/g. The main types of crude oil used in processing are low-sulfur crude oils from Oman and West Africa; however, the range of available crude oil sources is limited, which results in high costs. Under the current economic conditions, the profitability of oil refining operations is becoming increasingly weak. Crude oil costs are one of the main operating expenses for the company. In order to reduce the costs associated with crude oil procurement and to further improve efficiency, a project to modify the properties of the crude oil is being carried out; as a result, the sulfur content in the crude oil used in the refining process is intended to be increased from 1.0 w% to 1.5 w%. The design for the mixture of crude oils has been adjusted to 50:30:4:2:4:10 in terms of Oman, Shazan, Shale Light, Esclavos, Bonny Light Oil, and Sakhalin. The crude oil processing capacity of the crude oil steam cracking units in the chemical industrial zone remains unchanged from the original design: 600,000 tons per year of Nigerian Akpo oil and 1.4 million tons per year of U.S. WTI oil, for a total processing capacity of 2 million tons per year. By appropriately increasing the sulfur content of crude oil through processing, it is possible to expand the range of crude oil sources that Hainan Refining and Chemical can purchase, reduce crude oil costs, improve the adaptability of crude oil processing, and further enhance the efficiency of Hainan Refining and Chemical. In line with the principle of cost-saving investment, different measures are adopted depending on the conditions of each device. This renovation mainly includes 6 sets of process units, namely the atmospheric and vacuum distillation unit, the residue hydrogenation unit (i.e., the raw material pretreatment unit), Unit 1 hydrocracking unit, the desulfurization and dewaxing unit, the acidic water stripping unit, and the solvent regeneration unit.