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Cornell’s Methanol-to-Olefins Project Under Full Speed / Author/Source: Date: 2018-04-04 Clicks: 14 In the project team group for Cornell Group’s olefins project in Jilin, it is possible to see every day how this major project, with an investment of 4.9 billion yuan, is making rapid progress. Cornell’s 600,000 tons per year methanol-to-olefins project is an important chemical industry project aimed at completing the industrial chain in Jilin City during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Its operation will provide more ethylene and propylene raw materials to the numerous local chemical enterprises in Jilin City, a city known for its chemical industry, thereby alleviating the current shortage of basic raw materials. At present, enterprises in Jilin City’s ethylene and propylene industry chain, such as Zhongxin Chemical, Bohai Biochemical, Jilin Chemical Fiber, and Jishen Chemical, are all facing shortages of raw materials and are unable to proceed with production. Therefore, the early commissioning of Cornell’s olefin project is receiving much attention. At 9:30 on March 17, the first air compressor in the air compression station of the olefin project was started up for trial operation, marking the entry of the project’s pilot production phase into the preparation stage. Next, go through the remaining items of the “three checks and four determinations” and set a completion time for each one ； Review the trial production network plan and work backward from the scheduled milestones to carry out all the preliminary preparations… Cornell’s goal is to enter the trial production phase between May 25 and June 15 this year. The hundreds of employees working on Cornell’s olefins project have been in preparation mode since mid-March. All operators in the auxiliary workshop have adopted a ‘four shifts, three rotations’ working schedule. To improve employees’ skills in safe production, Cornell Chemicals, in collaboration with the Jilin City Public Security Fire Brigade, organized a large-scale fire emergency drill focused on fires caused by chemical raw materials. The final construction work and commissioning operations for the olefin project are carried out concurrently, so safety is of great importance. The company’s project management department coordinates with Shanhua Jianxian, the party responsible for the construction, to obtain the work permit; work can proceed on site only after approval is given by the production department and the safety and environmental protection department. The olefins project group often posts live broadcasts of lectures and employee exams. It turns out that the Cornell olefins project utilizes the world’s most advanced technology from UOP in the United States. Compared with traditional oil cracking technologies for producing olefins, this technology features lower investment, lower costs, as well as better safety and environmental performance. However, this technology also places higher demands on employees’ theoretical knowledge and operational skills. For operators, Cornell has organized numerous large-scale training sessions, primarily conducted at the plant site and in the central control room. These sessions focus on simulating the steps involved in starting up and shutting down the equipment, combining theory with practice, and training staff in handling emergencies. Theory tests are held every Friday to comprehensively improve the overall competence of the employees. Song Zhiping, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of Cornell Group, said: It is the obligation of entrepreneurs to take on responsibilities regarding people’s livelihood. Cornell’s employees have thoroughly studied the spirit of “**”, and are now pushing forward with the operation of the olefin project with a mindset of \"filling up the tank, keeping the helm steady, and going all out\", thereby putting that spirit of hard work into practice in the production process. March 20: Compressed air is supplied to the entire plant’s pipeline network, followed by pressure maintenance and leak detection ； Purging of the methanol tank farm and vehicle loading/unloading platforms; instrument technicians calibrate on-site instruments and control valves ； Fire water tank fed with process water… On March 23, the methanol unloading pipeline was purged ； On March 24, pressure boost purging was carried out on the methanol feed line of the anti-reaction device, and purging was conducted on the low-pressure sealing gas line of C-3001 ； On March 28, instrument and main unit operators jointly tuned the on-site control valve ； Technical renovation and relocation of the underground steam main valve at the heating station ； On March 29, the C-3001 oil pump was started up for trial operation ； On April 1, blind flanges were installed on the OCP nitrogen temporary pipeline... Around the clock, all work processes proceeded at full pace, day and night. The operation of Cornell’s 600,000 tons per year methanol-to-olefins plant will add 240,000 tons per year of ethylene, 360,000 tons per year of propylene, and 200,000 tons per year of methanol to Jilin City’s production capacity. This will generate an annual output value of 4.806 billion yuan, profits of 630 million yuan, and taxes of 450 million yuan.