【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】Sinopec’s CHP-based propylene oxide production technology for the period 2020–2024 has passed evaluation
Thread Content
Give praise and encouragement 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】Regular updates and summaries are available – feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Engineering Forum) ***************** The complete technology for producing propylene oxide using CHP method has been approved. On December 2nd, the project \"Development and Industrial Application of a 150,000-ton/year CHP-based Propylene Oxide Production System (S-APO)\", carried out jointly by Shanghai Institute, Tianjin Petrochemical, Shanghai Engineering, and Qingdao Safety Engineering Institute, was approved by the Group’s Science and Technology Department; the overall technology level reaches international leading standards. This technology will inject new momentum into further improving the level of green propylene oxide production in our country, as well as into the restructuring of the petrochemical industry and the development of green high-end new material industries. In 2004, the R&D team at the Shanghai Institute began working on catalysts for the production of propylene oxide via CHP. After 20 years of effort, they developed the S-APO technology suite, which is safe, efficient, environmentally friendly, and ensures high product quality. Plants that utilize this technology exhibit low material and energy consumption, low investment costs, small land requirements, and reduced wastewater discharge, resulting in significant economic and social benefits. The 150,000 tons per year industrial plant for producing propylene oxide using the CHP process at Tianjin Petrochemical, which employs this technology, completed its full-load calibration on June 30 of this year. All technical parameters exceeded the set targets; the purity of the propylene oxide product was over 99.99%. This product has been successfully used by various customer companies in the production of high-end polyethers and other products. In addition, the 300,000 tons/year S-APO technology package developed based on this technology has been licensed to two companies in China, with plans for its official commissioning next year.
As an important basic organic chemical raw material, propylene oxide currently has four main production methods: the chlorohydrin method, the co-oxidation method with by-products, the hydrogen peroxide oxidation method, and the isopropylbenzene hydroperoxide oxidation method (abbreviated as CHP method). The respective shares of these four processes in global production capacity are 43.2%, 48.2%, 4.9%, and 3.7%. The CHP method is a key focus in the development and dissemination of propylene oxide production technologies. Compared to the other three methods, it features no environmental pollution, no chlorinated wastewater or calcium chloride waste residues, and no by-products, representing the direction of green and environmentally friendly technology with low pollution. The CHP-based propylene oxide production technology jointly developed by Tianjin Petrochemical, Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, and Shanghai Engineering Co., Ltd., consists of four units: isopropylbenzene oxidation, propylene epoxidation, propylene oxide purification, and dimethylbenzyl alcohol hydrolysis. This process is environmentally friendly and does not generate any by-products. The laboratory research results passed the technical evaluation by the group company’s headquarters in 2008; following pilot-scale studies and the development of process packages, a complete set of technologies for producing propylene oxide using the CHP method was created, with independent intellectual property rights. To optimize resources and improve the polyether industry chain, Tianjin Petrochemical has adopted the CHP-based technology for producing propylene oxide, which was developed independently by Sinopec. Using propylene generated as a by-product of oil refining upgrade projects as raw material, it has built an industrial facility capable of producing 150,000 tons of propylene oxide per year.
China’s first pilot plant was used to verify the reliability of the process technology. In the first half of 2012, Tianjin Petrochemical completed a pilot test for propylene epoxidation, and the catalyst performed as expected. Subsequently, pilot tests were carried out on the three main processes of propylene epoxidation, propylene oxide purification, and dimethylbenzyl alcohol hydrolysis. On this basis, the complete technical packages for producing propylene oxide using the CHP process with capacities of 100,000 tons per year and 150,000 tons per year were developed; both have passed expert evaluations and possess favorable conditions for industrial testing. To further verify the reliability of this process technology, Tianjin Petrochemical, building on the pilot tests conducted for the main process of Unit 3, constructed a full-scale pilot plant for the production of propylene oxide using the CHP process in Unit 4 in 2019. On June 2, 2020, the first pilot plant of its kind in China was completed, and the full-scale pilot test was finished as scheduled in November 2020. During the experiments, they focused on analyzing the reaction by-products and the composition of organic acids, studying the reasons for their formation and the measures to control them, in order to reduce the impact of acidic substances on subsequent reactions. They also examined the effect of material recycling on the reactions and separation processes, verifying the reliability of the process; the specifications of the propylene oxide product met or exceeded the standards for high-quality products as defined by national regulations. “At present, the group company is actively developing fine chemicals, and Tianjin Petrochemical will continue to use this epoxidation pilot plant to research, develop, and produce epichlorohydrin and dicyclopentadiene dioxide, thereby creating a series of epoxide compounds. ”said Li Jun, director of the Chemical Engineering Joint Research Laboratory. R&D personnel are involved in the construction of the facility and its market promotion. In December 2018, the feasibility study report for the industrial application project of the 150,000 tons per year CHP-based propylene oxide production technology was approved by the headquarters, and it was included in the group company’s “Ten Dragon” key project program, with completion scheduled for December 2021. In March 2020, the preliminary design for the industrial application project of propylene oxide produced via the 150,000 tons per year CHP process was approved by the headquarters, and detailed engineering design work commenced. Researchers working on the pilot plant for the entire process provided the basic data and design criteria necessary for the detailed engineering design of the 150,000 tons per year CHP-based propylene oxide production facility. Construction of the facility began in July, with delivery expected on September 30, 2021. Currently, based on pilot plant experience, the R&D personnel have published operation manuals for the equipment, conducted training sessions for technical staff, and provided comprehensive training to all personnel responsible for operating the equipment. Meanwhile, the R&D team actively promoted propylene oxide in the market and conducted evaluations of the use of polyethers synthesized from propylene oxide produced via the CHP process. Using this pilot-scale propylene oxide product as a raw material, they synthesized polyethers of various grades such as TEP-330N (highly active polyether), TEP-565B (bulk cellular polyether), and TMN-3050 (polyether used to verify the activity of the DMC catalyst system), and carried out foaming tests on them. “The polyethers we synthesized exhibit foaming properties comparable to those of polyethers produced using propylene oxide from Tianjin Petrochemical’s polyether division for industrial purposes, thereby verifying the reliability of propylene oxide products manufactured by the CHP method. This provides a solid foundation for the downstream applications and market promotion of such CHP-produced propylene oxide products. ”Li Jun said.
【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】2081-2024 Qingzhou Zhonglian’s Annual 200,000-Ton CO2 Full-Oxygen Combustion Enrichment and Purification Demonstration Project https://bbs.hcbbs.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=5675623 (Source: Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum [Haichuan Network])
agfds gfds gfds gfds gfds sdf fds