04-08-2021

Zhenhai Refinery & Chemicals Company announce the of their H-Oil® unit test run

Following the successful start-up of the unit in December 2020, Sinopec Zhenhai Refinery & Chemicals Company and Axens are proud to announce the completion of the Performance Guarantee Test Run of the 2.6 MMTA (45 000 BPSD) VR capacity Ebullated-Bed Hydrocraker (H-Oil® unit), demonstrating VR conversion in excess of 80%.

Axens H-Oil® Ebullated Bed Hydrocracking Technology was implemented in the Sinopec Zhenhai existing refinery and coupled with existing assets such as Delayed Coker and Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units to maximize refinery overall performances, bringing higher profits in the refinery economics.

Beyond the performance guarantees demonstration, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company H-Oil® unit has not only passed successfully all guarantees but thanks to ZRCC operation and Axens team collaboration, the unit was also able to adjust its operation to follow market opportunities to produce Low Sulfur Bunker Fuel from unconverted residue product. The H-Oil® unit also demonstrated its high flexibility towards a wide range of operating capacity and towards various feedstocks.

The Performance Guarantee Test Run (PGTR) was conducted with the support of on-site and substantially off-site support from Axens head offices in France.
“Axens has accompanied Sinopec ZRCC since the beginning of the project and our cooperation has permitted to adapt to the market and maximize our refinery full potential” said Guo Shouquan, Deputy Director of development and technology department at Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company.

“Axens and ZRCC have a long standing relationship and we are very proud of the conclusion of the H-Oil® unit implementation. We are particularly impressed by the way Sinopec ZRCC operation teams have adopted this Ebullated bed VR conversion technology and explored many of its flexibilities to address today’s market uncertainties” said Jacques Rault, Conversion & Clean Fuels Director at Axens.