Thread Content
World’s first coal-based metallocene poly-alpha-olefin mPAO plant set to undergo trial operation / Author/Source: Yaha Coal Chemicals / Date: 2019-09-24 / Clicks: 72. On September 20, Lu’an Group held a meeting to advance the trial operation of the metallocene poly-alpha-olefin (mPAO) plant. Liu Junyi, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of the group, Ma Junxiang, Deputy General Manager, Li Jiusong, Director of the Green Chemistry Engineering Technology Research and Development Center at the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Studies affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as relevant officials and technical experts from the group’s Coal Chemicals Development Department, Coal-based Synthetic Oil Company, and Taihang Lubricants Company, attended the meeting. The pilot project for producing low-viscosity PAO using metallocene catalysts commenced in November 2017; it made use of the metallocene catalysts developed by the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and relied on coal-derived α-olefins provided by Lu’an Group as raw materials. The construction of the project is now nearing completion, and all preparations prior to testing are being carried out in an orderly manner; it is expected to pass the acceptance inspection successfully within this year. This project is a major scientific and technological initiative in Shanxi Province; it represents China’s first pilot plant for producing low-viscosity PAO using metallocene catalysts, as well as the world’s first facility for manufacturing coal-based PAO. It holds great practical significance and economic value, as it helps to significantly improve the profitability of the coal-based synthetic oil industry, reduces reliance on imported raw materials, and provides high-quality base oil resources for the production of high-grade lubricants in China. The development of production technologies for PAO and metallocene PAO (mPAO) abroad started early, with major global companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, Idemitsu Kosan, Covestro, Ineos, and BP holding their own patents. Restricted by production processes, catalysts, and the supply of upstream raw materials, China has lagged behind in PAO synthesis; it was not until recent years that the Shanghai Institute of Advanced Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences managed to develop and demonstrate on an industrial scale a mPAO synthesis technology with independent intellectual property rights. China’s lubricant industry has shifted from a phase of rapid growth to one focused on high-quality development, and it is currently in a critical period of striving to transform its development model and sources of growth. Currently, the annual growth rate of PAO consumption in China is around 5%. The share of high-quality lubricants in the total demand for lubricants is increasing year by year, and the market’s demand for premium lubricant products will drive growth in the demand for PAO. With the localization of PAO technology and self-sufficiency in production raw materials, China’s major coal-to-oil companies, such as Yankuang Group and **Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Group, are planning to build large-scale PAO production facilities. In the future, the industrialization of domestic ethylene oligomerization technology will also provide a supply of raw materials for these new PAO plants. The commissioning of these projects in the future will largely address the shortage in market supply. China has become the world’s largest manufacturing country and is striving to become a manufacturing powerhouse. At the same time, as the \"blood\" of modern industry, lubricants – in terms of product quality and research and development capabilities – lag far behind those in developed countries; China relies to a large extent on foreign sources in areas such as synthetic base oils, high-performance additives, advanced formulation technologies, and product specification standards. To change this situation, it is necessary to pay attention to and increase investment in the research and development of these critical ‘bottleneck’ technologies.