A new facility in Shanghai has begun production para-xylene, Honeywell’s UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.) announced yesterday.
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (Shanghai) constructed the unit with process technology from UOP. The new aromatics complex produces 600,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of p-xylene using UOP’s Parex process. The plant will also produce 280,000 m.t./yr of benzene.
In addition to the Parex unit, the complex also includes a UOP CCR Platforming unit to convert naphtha to aromatics and hydrogen, as well as a UOP Isomar unit to convert ortho-xylene and meta-xylene to p-xylene.
The project was completed in 30 months, from initial kick-off through commissioning, UOP said, including just over 18 months to complete construction and startup once engineering design was complete.
Para-xylene is a key ingredient in the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a chemical precursor to polyester for fabric, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips, which are used to make soft drink and water bottles.