The alkylation industry in China faces both opportunities and challenges (with a summary of 12 major alkylation processes)
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Opportunities and Challenges in the Development of China’s Alkylation Industry (with a summary of 12 major alkylation processes) 2010-10-10 Oil & Petrochemical Industry News. Alkylation oil boasts numerous advantages such as high octane rating, low volatility, absence of aromatics and olefins, and minimal sulfur content. Driven by China’s efforts to upgrade oil products and improve environmental standards, alkylation oil is gaining increasing attention as an ideal additive for gasoline. It is estimated that in 2017, the national demand for National V gasoline was around 130 million tons, while the demand for alkylated oil would reach 7.8 million tons. The National VI gasoline standard will impose stricter limits on parameters such as the content of olefins, aromatics, and benzene; the optimal addition level for alkylated oil is expected to be between 8% and 10% ； In 2019, China’s demand for gasoline is expected to reach 150 million tons, while the demand for alkylated oils will be between 12 and 15 million tons. The huge market potential for alkylated oils has inspired domestic companies to invest in the construction of alkylation plants; in particular, the capacity for alkylation production has been growing rapidly in recent years. According to Yaha Consulting, China has built and put into operation over 60 alkylation units, with a total production capacity of more than 14 million tons per year ； There are over 40 more sets of projects in the construction or planning stage in our country, and it is expected that more than 8 million tons per year of new production capacity will come online over the next five years. By then, domestic alkylation capacity will exceed 22 million tons per year. Although China’s alkylation industry is seeing rapid growth in production capacity and has promising market demand in the future, it also faces various challenges, including a shortage of C4 raw materials that limits operational capacity, fierce competition in the market, and environmental protection pressures. In recent years, the annual operating rate of domestic alkylation units has generally been below 50%, mainly due to a shortage of C4 feedstock, which often leaves these units in a situation where they lack sufficient raw materials to operate. Since the rise of advanced processing of C4 hydrocarbons, various units for aromatization, alkylation, isomerization, etc. have been put into operation one after another, leading to fierce competition among these units for C4 feedstock. At present, a large portion of the carbon tetrafluoride resources in China are held by major refineries such as Sinopec and CNPC. However, in order to improve their own oil processing chains and achieve the upgrading of petroleum products, these refineries are also starting to build alkylation units. In the future, they may no longer rely on external sources for carbon tetrafluoride resources; in fact, it is possible that they will purchase such resources from the market to supplement their needs. In the future, alkylation plants may face insufficient operating rates and shrinking profits due to a shortage of C4 feedstocks and rising costs of these feedstocks. Given the current shortage of C4 feedstocks in China, C4 produced as a by-product of coal-based olefin production, as well as imported C4 resources from abroad, may become effective supplementary sources. As an excellent component for gasoline blending, the price trend of alkylated oils is generally consistent with that of gasoline. Crude oil prices are fluctuating at low levels, and the prices of alkylated oils are also low. Coupled with rising costs due to raw material shortages, the alkylation industry is now faced with increasingly slim profits or even losses. Although the upgrade in automobile consumption and fuel standards will significantly drive demand for alkylation products, the rapid expansion of domestic alkylation capacity, especially as refineries that operate primarily in this sector build their own alkylation units, will lead to a decrease in the need to purchase alkylation oil from external sources. This will inevitably intensify competition within the entire alkylation industry. Furthermore, the existing alkylation units in our country primarily use the traditional sulfuric acid-based alkylation process, which generates large amounts of waste acid during production, posing a threat to the environment; some of these units even suffer from significant environmental pollution problems. As our country places great emphasis on environmental protection, there is an urgent need for low-cost waste acid regeneration technologies as well as new, environmentally friendly alkylation techniques. At present, more environmentally friendly alkylation technologies (low-temperature sulfuric acid alkylation technology, ionic liquid alkylation technology, and solid acid alkylation technology) have been put into industrial use in China. In the future, these new types of environmentally friendly alkylation technologies will undoubtedly represent an inevitable trend for improving the quality of development in China’s alkylation industry. (Reprinted from Yahuah Consulting) Summary of 12 Major Alkylation Processes Worldwide. Sequence, Patent Holder, Process Name, Process Type: 1. Ruems CDAlky process – sulfuric acid method; 2. Ruems AlkyClean process – solid acid method; 3. UOP HF process – hydrofluoric acid method; 4. UOP Alkylene process – solid acid method; 5. Phillips HF process – hydrofluoric acid method; 6. DuPont STRATCO process – sulfuric acid method; 7. KBR K-SAAT process – solid acid method; 8. Sinopec Research Institute’s SINOALKY process – sulfuric acid method; 9. Sinopec Research Institute’s isobutane-butene supercritical process – solid acid method; 10. China University of Petroleum’s new technology for alkylation of C4 compounds using composite ionic liquids (CILA) – ionic liquid alkylation; 11. ConocoPhillips’ enhanced alkylation process (ReVAP) – hydrofluoric acid method; 12. Topsoe’s FBA process – solid acid method
The information on alkylation isn’t presented properly; I work in the field of alkylation. Half of the gasoline used for meeting National V standards is alkylated gasoline, and large-scale production is the norm. Production capacity has increased, but the majority of such capacities are of low quality and not profitable. Currently, most alkylation facilities in the Dongying area are under maintenance – they require regular inspections every three years. There’s no place to buy such gasoline, as the materials come mainly from Sinopec and CNPC, which produce only limited quantities. Production relies primarily on local refineries and overseas sources. If it weren’t for the three major oil companies suppressing the development of local refineries, alkylation technology would have advanced much earlier. This article contains many inaccuracies
Alkylation doesn’t work; the big three oil companies don’t use alkylation at all – there’s no such thing here
Recently, in Dongying, as far as I know, there are three new alkylation units that have been put into operation; two more companies are still considering doing so. All of these are local refineries. The price of liquefied gas abroad is lower than in China, and there are stable supply channels for this product – so why not engage in this business? At the beginning of 2015, all enterprises at Dongying Port stopped operating except for Wanfuda; that company has a production capacity of at least 900 units per day. There is no plant that doesn’t generate profits – it’s just the people operating it who may not be competent enough
The authors of these articles didn’t use any critical thinking, have no understanding of alkylation, and didn’t conduct any research either. Yaxia Consulting is complete nonsense; ion liquids are available in Dongying, and they’re located very close to the old factories – it’s not that amazing at all. Despite multiple attempts at technological upgrades, things still don’t work, as these solutions aren’t suitable for the market. Even getting approval for hydrofluoric acid is difficult these days, yet the authors still managed to get them listed
When it comes to launching a project and carrying out safety and environmental impact assessments, as soon as they hear the word hydrofluoric acid, they ignore you right away – it’s too dangerous
Can it still be used then? I thought **it was explicitly prohibited to build new alkyl fluoride production facilities**
State-owned and central-state enterprises are easier to deal with. It’s not easy to set up local refineries or individual businesses. In fact, aside from the fact that hydrofluoric acid is extremely dangerous due to its catalysts, everything else about it is much better than that of DuPont’s products. Bro, you’re here on the forum too? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you
Yeah, I need to hurry up and conduct experiments and publish papers~ Alkylation of solid acids is not easy; I now feel like graduating is out of the question
Bro, keep it up. I’m still waiting to make the device you designed; I support you, keep it up!