【Haichuan Chemical Engineering News】The 1.1 million tons/year olefins and light hydrocarbons project designed by Beijing Huanguo Company has begun to produce...

The Xinpu Olefins 1.1 million tons/year Light Hydrocarbons Comprehensive Utilization Project is China’s first facility for producing ethylene through gas cracking. Using ethane and propane as raw materials, it carries out high-temperature thermal cracking and separation, and employs a pre-depropanization and pre-hydrogenation process to produce polymer-grade ethylene and propylene, as well as by-products such as methane, C4 products, and fuel oil. The yield of ethylene reaches 80.5%, which is far higher than the 35% yield achieved in traditional processes that use naphtha to produce ethylene. The tasks undertaken by Beijing Huánqiú Company for this project include: the ethylene plant, ethylene/propylene storage tanks, surface flares, circulating water stations, air compression stations, high-pressure fire pump stations, main substation, central control room, wastewater treatment systems, rainwater pump stations, accident treatment tanks, waste solid disposal areas, weight monitoring stations, and utility tunnels throughout the plant. During the downturn in the petrochemical construction industry, this project won the recognition of its clients thanks to the unremitting efforts and excellent service of its project leaders and employees. The project commenced in January 2016 and, after a period of three years and four months, entered the commissioning phase in May 2019. On August 11, the pyrolyzer was officially fed with propane as a raw material ； On the morning of August 17, the carbon dioxide hydrogenation process was successful ； Qualified ethylene product was produced at 13:30 on August 19. This project employs a different process flow and set of equipment compared to conventional naphtha cracking units. While ensuring compliance with safety standards, the company conducted thorough evaluations of the design plans and optimized the equipment layout on multiple occasions, ultimately reducing the project costs and meeting the space requirements. The designers fully absorbed the patent holder’s design concepts, and optimized and adjusted the process flow based on the project’s technical characteristics as well as their experience in designing ethylene plants.

On August 2, the 1.1 million-ton-per-year light hydrocarbon comprehensive utilization project at Xinpú Olefins in Taixing, Jiangsu, entered the intensive stage of unit testing; it will begin operations on an official basis in August. Once fully operational, the Taixing Economic Development Zone will become the seventh \"large ethylene\" chemical industrial park in China. This project is a wholly-owned investment by Singapore and is located in the Taixing Economic and Technological Development Zone in Jiangsu. With a total investment of 5.5 billion yuan, its construction was completed over a period of three years. Once completed, it will be able to produce 650,000 tons of ethylene, 120,000 tons of propylene, 14,500 tons of hydrogen, 45,000 tons of C4, 30,000 tons of methane, and 45,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline per year. Once operating at full capacity, it is expected to generate an additional annual revenue of 10 billion yuan. This is China’s first set of equipment for producing ethylene through the cracking of ethane and propane, with an ethylene yield of 80.5%, which is far higher than the 35% yield achieved in traditional processes using naphtha to produce ethylene. Furthermore, the production capacity of each gas-phase pyrolysis furnace in this project is the highest in the world at present. It is expected that once production begins, the enterprises in the Taixing Economic Development Zone will be able to achieve self-sufficiency, reducing their reliance on imported ethylene raw materials, and expanding their operations to produce products such as polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene. At the same time, it helps to improve the layout and raise the level of the industrial park as well as Taizhou’s chemical industry, thereby contributing to the rapid development of the regional economy.

This afternoon, the country’s first and the world’s largest ethane carrier, Ineos’ Dragon-class LNG multipurpose liquefied gas carrier, successfully berthed at Pier 2 in Xinpu, Taixing.

The process of localizing chemical engineering technologies is accelerating rapidly

It is understood that Ineos’ “Dragon” class LNG multi-purpose liquefied gas carrier is the first of its kind in China and the largest ethane carrier in the world. It has a length of 231.57 meters, a width of 36.6 meters, and a load capacity of 51,312.5 tons, featuring 4 separate Type C cargo holds.

The arrival and berthing of Sinpu Chemical’s 50,000 GT ethane ship not only supplies imported ethane for the light hydrocarbon comprehensive utilization and storage project operated by Sinpu Olefins (Taixing) Co., Ltd., which has an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tons, but it also marks Taixing Economic Development Zone as the seventh chemical industrial park in China to have large-scale ethylene production facilities. This enables self-sufficiency in the supply of raw materials for the olefins industry chain, and it will undoubtedly play a positive role in promoting the high-quality development of the zone. Once the project is in operation, it will generate annual sales revenue of 10 billion yuan through invoiced sales, as well as tax revenues of 800 million yuan. It is expected that by 2020, Xinpu Company will be able to achieve annual sales revenue of 20 billion yuan and tax revenues of 1.6 billion yuan.