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After 30 years, a new set of green production technologies for caprolactam has been successfully developed! Break the monopoly! Author/Source: Refining & Chemical Industry News Date: 2021-02-03 Clicks: 273 On the morning of December 27, 2020, the list of winners, awardees, and nominees for the 6th China Industrial Awards was announced. The new green production technology package for caprolactam developed by Baling Petrochemical won the China Industrial Award, making it the only company from Sinopec to receive this honor. With the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Baling Petrochemical and the Institute of Petroleum Sciences transform the scientific research achievements from basic research into new technologies. Over the course of 30 years, three generations have overcome numerous setbacks and difficulties to develop a set of green technologies with independent intellectual property rights. This has successfully broken the foreign monopoly on caprolactam production technology that had persisted for 70 years, establishing China’s reputation as a country capable of innovation through its own efforts. Currently, the domestic self-sufficiency rate for caprolactam has risen from 30% to 94%, resulting in a significant reduction in China’s dependence on foreign technologies and imported products. Through 30 years of independent innovation, a new set of green production technologies for caprolactam has been successfully developed. Caprolactam is an important organic chemical raw material; used as a monomer for producing nylon-6 synthetic fibers and nylon-6 engineering plastics, it is widely applied in various fields that rely on innovative use of new materials, such as textiles, the automotive industry, and electronics. The caprolactam industry is closely related to economic strength and the standard of living of the people, and it plays an important role in the development and continuous improvement of the national economy. In the early 1990s, Sinopec invested nearly 1 billion yuan to introduce three 50,000-ton/year caprolactam production units, which were established at Baling Petrochemical, Nanjing DSM Oriental Chemical Co., Ltd., and Shijiazhuang Refining & Chemical Industry. Subsequently, Sinopec took **oxime preparation**, the core technology for caprolactam production, as a starting point to carry out research on new comprehensive technologies for the green production of caprolactam at Baling Petrochemical. With the strong support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and under the guidance of Academicians Min Enze and Shu Xingtian from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team worked together diligently. Over the past 30 years, they have developed more than 100 domestic and international invention patents, and successfully created a new set of green production technologies for caprolactam based on integrated new reaction pathways, new catalytic materials, and new reaction engineering methods. This set of new technologies comprises 6 core technologies, all of which are at the international leading level. These include the process technology for **ammonoxime formation** in a single-reactor continuous slurry bed, the **Bekmann three-stage rearrangement technology for oximes**, the sulfur ammonium neutralization and crystallization technology, the magnetic-stabilized bed hydrogenation refining technology for caprolactam, the **gas-phase rearrangement technology for oximes to produce caprolactam**, and a new process for the esterification and hydrogenation of cyclohexene. Among them, the first 4 technologies have been put into industrial use, resulting in 137 domestic and international invention patents ； It has won 17 awards at the provincial or ministerial level or above, including 1 first prize for technical invention and 1 second prize for scientific and technological progress. Baling Petrochemical’s new \"oxime gas-phase rearrangement moving-bed process\" that does not produce sulfuric acid as a by-product has also made breakthrough advances in catalyst preparation, reaction processes, and product purification. Pilot and scale-up studies have been completed, and industrial implementation on a scale of 50,000 tons per year is set to begin soon. In addition, Sinopec’s independently developed \"new process for producing ** via cyclohexene esterification and hydrogenation\" features a carbon atom utilization rate of nearly 100%. It not only has low energy consumption but also enables the co-production of anhydrous ethanol. Pilot studies as well as the development of a production facility with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons have been completed, and industrial implementation at this scale is set to begin soon. New technologies drive the vigorous development of new industries, while relocation and upgrades help preserve the purity of the waters in the river. Today, Baling Petrochemical has become a large-scale integrated enterprise in the petrochemical and coal chemical sectors; it is also the largest producer of caprolactam and lithium-based rubber in China, as well as an important manufacturing base for epoxy resins. Among them, the caprolactam product chain includes 500,000 tons per year of caprolactam (including 200,000 tons from joint ventures), 450,000 tons per year of **, and 800,000 tons per year of ammonium sulfate. The new set of green production technologies for caprolactam has enabled significant technological advancement in this traditional industry. It is not only more environmentally friendly, with pollutant emissions per unit of product reduced by 50%, but it also lowers the production cost per unit by 50%; the investment required for a production capacity of 10,000 tons is now less than 150 million yuan, a reduction of nearly 80%. This has yielded notable economic and social benefits. The new set of green production technologies for caprolactam has significantly promoted the rapid development of caprolactam and its downstream industries. By the end of 2019, Sinopec had installed multiple caprolactam production units at companies such as Balin Petrochemical and Zhejiang Balin Hengyi, with a total production capacity of 900,000 tons per year. This represents 12.16% of the world’s total caprolactam production capacity and 24.39% of China’s domestic caprolactam production capacity. At present, China’s capacity for new green production technologies in caprolactam amounts to 4 million tons, making it the world’s largest producer; it holds a global market share of over 50%. This has given rise to an emerging industry worth 40 billion yuan, while also driving the vigorous development of downstream industries worth 400 billion yuan. In 2020, the caprolactam industry chain relocation, upgrading, and transformation project, which required a total investment of 13.95 billion yuan, was launched in the Hunan Yueyang Green Chemical Industry Park. The project utilizes a range of new technologies independently developed by Sinopec to build an caprolactam production chain with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons in one go. This project will be developed into a model and benchmark initiative for \"protecting the clear waters of the river,\" addressing the issue of chemical industries surrounding the river, and facilitating the relocation of hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises from densely populated urban areas across the country.