CNOOC Huizhou Petrochemical Company Limited (CHPCL) has selected Axens’ (Rueil-Malmaison, France) ParamaX Technology Suite for its petrochemical complex expansion in Daya Bay, China. The project aims at increasing CHPCL’s high-purity aromatics production capacity to 3,000,000 ton/yr. The new aromatics complex will produce 1,500,000 ton/yr of p-xylene in a single train.
Axens offered its second generation of the energy-efficient ParamaX Suite of technologies for the cost-effective production of p-xylene, benzene and mixed xylenes from aromatic-rich reformate and pyrolysis gasoline.
The ParamaX Suite includes the following solutions:
— Arofining selective olefin removal technology, originally developed by Axens,
— Eluxyl 1.15 p-xylene purification technology, originally developed by Axens,
— XyMaxSM-2, C8 aromatics isomerization technology, originally developed by ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing,
— TransPlusSM-5, aromatics transalkylation technology, originally developed by ExxonMobil Chemical Technology Licensing.
Axens’ second generation of the energy-efficient ParamaX Suite provides superior aromatics yields while greatly reducing the plant’s energy consumption and enabling to manage investments for cost- advantaged aromatics production.
Since 2009, CHPCL has been satisfactorily operating an Axens’ ParamaX complex with a production rate exceeding 1,300,000 ton/yr of pure aromatics.
Axens’ Process Licensing Global Business Unit executive vice-president Patrick Sarrazin says, “This brand-new, state-of-the-art aromatics complex will allow CHPCL to further improve its resilience and competitiveness while producing highly valuable aromatics products.”
Axens will also supply catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and a full-service offer from plant personnel training to successful plant start-up, followed by plant performance monitoring services.
The ParamaX Technology Suite is a combination of top-of-the-line processes aimed at the production of high-purity p-xylene and other aromatic molecules such as m-xylene, o-xylene, benzene and toluene. To date, Axens has licensed more than 30 ParamaX aromatics complexes and more than 400 process units aimed at aromatics production or transformation.