21-07-2015

Honeywell UOP technology to power new petrochemical complex in China

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that China’s Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. will use Honeywell UOP’s latest generation technologies and equipment to build an energy-efficient petrochemical complex. The Yinchuan City, Ningxia, China, complex will produce valuable petrochemicals as well as high-quality gasoline, and is expected to come online in 2018.

The new complex will be the first in China to use Honeywell UOP’s energy efficient aromatics complex design to convert heavy naphtha, a product of the oil refining process, into 800,000 metric tons per year of high-purity para-xylene. Para-xylene is the primary component for making synthetic fibers, packaging and plastics, and it is in high demand in Asia. The plant will also produce 520,000 metric tons per year of high-quality gasoline and 200,000 metric tons per year of benzene, a basic petrochemical building block.

“Nowhere in the world is para-xylene demand growing as fast as it is in Asia,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “UOP’s next-generation aromatics technology combines the latest catalysts and adsorbents with an energy-efficient design to reduce energy consumption by as much as 20 percent, helping achieve the lowest cost of operation for para-xylene producers in the industry. With UOP technology, Ningxia Baota can become a more competitive player in the Asian para-xylene market, which accounts for 83 percent of the global para-xylene demand.”

In addition to licensing, Honeywell UOP will provide the basic engineering, commissioning services, training services, proprietary equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the new complex.

Honeywell UOP technologies licensed for the complex include:
* The UOP Naphtha Hydrotreating process to pre-treat reforming feed.
* The UOP CCR Platforming™ process to convert low-quality naphtha to high-octane blending components for gasoline and a feed for aromatics production.
* The UOP Extractive Distillation (ED) Sulfolane™ process to recover high-purity benzene and toluene.
* The UOP Tatoray™ process to increase production of benzene and xylenes.
* The UOP Parex™ process to recover para-xylene from mixed xylenes.
* The UOP Isomar™ process to convert mixed xylenes or naphtha reformate into more valuable high-purity para-xylene.
* The UOP Par-Isom™ process to upgrade light naphtha into high-value isomerate for gasoline blending.

Honeywell UOP is the world’s leading licensor of process technology for the production of aromatics. As of last year, UOP licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units for the production of aromatics, including more than 300 CCR Platforming process units,  42 Isom process units, 155 Sulfolane process units, 80 Isomar process units, 65 Tatoray process units and 100 Parex process units worldwide.

Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Ningxia Baota Petrochemical Co., Ltd., which offers crude oil processing services with a total production capacity of 25 million metric tons. Founded in 1997, the company is based in Yinchuan City, Ningxia, China.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com