Regarding the alkylation unit

At present, both CNPC and Sinopec are actively advancing the development of alkylation units; Lanzhou Huanyu is doing very well in business. CNPC’s Dalian Xitai has restarted its sulfuric acid-based alkylation unit, which had been out of use for many years. After all, when dealing with National V and National VI gasoline, alkylation is the best method for blending. As for the issue of phasing out alkylation units, there are various reasons for this. When such units were introduced in the 1980s, the goal was to follow the examples of Europe and the United States, but given China’s national conditions, catalytic cracking plays a dominant role, making alkylation units less useful. Furthermore, the improvement in gasoline quality only accelerated in recent years; the demand for alkylated fuels has always been limited. More than 30 years have passed, and those facilities have now reached the end of their useful life and should be scrapped. These are just my personal opinions for reference only.

It seems that Sinopec is also taking action; Shijiazhuang Refining & Chemicals has said it intends to get involved, but nothing has been heard from Guangzhou, Fujian, and Zhejiang. If they decide to get involved as well, it will be fatal for the smaller alkylation plants. I’m not sure either about the alkylation effect of the solid acid from Shandong Hui Feng; I’ve been driving lately.

Is there any friend who is aware of the operating status of the Shandong Huifeng alkylation unit? After feeding material into this device for such a long time, it should have produced products by now.

Shandong Huifeng’s alkylation unit has been successfully commissioned, but its long-term and efficient operation is still under evaluation, and the quality is not yet stable. Internal message!

Thank you! I hope to keep an eye on the technologies in this area; if the yield and energy consumption are acceptable, it will deal a fatal blow to the traditional sulfuric acid-based alkylation method currently used in China!

The greatest advantage of solid acid alkylation is the lower environmental pressure, but its overall operational efficiency does not have any advantages.

From the perspective of reaction principles, solid acid alkylation also does not offer any cost advantages; if its operating costs are 100 yuan higher per ton of oil produced compared to traditional alkylation methods, it is not worth considering for private enterprises. Moreover, through years of experimentation and technical improvements, the problems related to equipment corrosion, seal leakage, and waste acid recovery in sulfuric acid-based alkylation have been effectively resolved, allowing this method to compete effectively with solid acid alkylation.

The biggest problem facing alkylation at present is acid consumption and the subsequent treatment of waste acid; until this issue is resolved, companies such as Sinopec generally will not build alkylation plants on a large scale

Recently, through a friend’s introduction, it was found that the solid acid alkylation unit performs satisfactorily; however, the catalyst’s service life needs further verification. Nonetheless, its operating costs are lower than those of the current sulfuric acid-based alkylation units.

Could anyone please provide some information on the operation of the solid acid alkylation unit at Shandong Hui Feng Petrochemicals recently? This company does an excellent job of keeping things confidential.