UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill; www.uop.com), a Honeywell company, announced that China’s Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co. 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 (m.t./yr) 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 m.t./yr of high-quality gasoline and 200,000 m.t./yr 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% 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