【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】2271–2025: Tianhua Institute builds the world’s largest polymerization reactor for Novolen process polypropylene projects
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Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. Your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement**********************【Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available; feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. Your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement**********************【Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available; feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** As of March 24, 2025, the polymerization reactor for a polypropylene production facility, which features world-leading specifications and was developed jointly by Tianhua Chemical Machinery and Automation Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tianhua Institute”) under Sinochem, and the German company EKATO Mixing Technologies GmbH (hereinafter referred to as “EKATO Group”), has been successfully manufactured and shipped. This is the first major project jointly undertaken by the two parties since Tianhua Institute and EKATO Group signed a strategic technical cooperation framework agreement in 2024, marking a new stage of scaled-up practical cooperation in high-end equipment technology between China and Germany. The polymerization reactor delivered this time is the core equipment for a 500,000-ton/year polypropylene project in China. It utilizes the Novolen gas-phase polypropylene process, and its designed production capacity, structural complexity, and manufacturing precision rank among the highest for similar facilities worldwide. With a total weight of over 210 tons and a height of more than 12 meters, this device combines EKATO Group’s advanced mixing technology with Tianhua Institute’s extensive experience in the design of large pressure vessels, material processing, and intelligent manufacturing. This device not only fills the gap in China’s ability to independently design and manufacture ultra-large polypropylene reactors, but it will also provide key technical support for upgrading high-end polyolefin production capacity in the global chemical industry. middle
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The Novolen process was developed in 1962 by BASF as a gas-phase polypropylene production method that utilizes a vertical stirred-tank technology. By the end of 2018, the authorized production capacity for polypropylene using the Novolen process was nearly 14 million tons per year. The 450,000 tons per year polypropylene plant of Ningbo Formosa, which came online in 2008, was the first polypropylene plant in China to use the Novolen process. In addition to the characteristics common to gas-phase processes such as short process flow, wide product range, good safety, and ease of start-up and shutdown, the Novolen process also introduces the concept of a multi-functional reaction unit, whereby the two reactors can be designed in either parallel or series mode (VRCTM mode). Homopolymer and random copolymer products can be produced in the “parallel” mode. Furthermore, when the operating conditions of the two reactors are the same, the product produced is a single-peak product ； A bimodal product can also be produced when the operating conditions of the two reactors are different. In “series” mode, the production of homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact-resistant copolymers is possible. The VRCTM mode enables this process to offer the advantages of production flexibility and a wide range of products. Among the similar units that are already in operation in the country, the reactor volume is 75 m3 in all cases. Most of them use two or three, or even four reactors in a series; that is, one production line consists of two reactors connected in series, and this setup is mainly used for producing homopolymers, random copolymers, and impact-resistant copolymers ； Another production line consists of a single reactor or two reactors in parallel, and is mainly used for producing homopolymers and random copolymers. The Daxie Petrochemical polypropylene plant has only one production line and two reactors, each with a volume of 125 m3; it operates in either a tandem mode or a single-reactor mode. This facility is currently one of the units with the highest production capacity per production line for this process in China.