PetroChina Sichuan Petrochemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the PetroChina Co., Ltd. (Beijing; www.petrochina.com), has selected UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) to supply technology, basic engineering services and equipment for a new integrated refining and petrochemicals complex, according to statments made today by UOP. It will be the fifth aromatics complex UOP has designed for PetroChina and the sixth Unicracking unit. Located at PetroChina’s facility near Chengdu in the Sichuan Province, the new plant will produce both fuels and petrochemicals — including 600-thousand metric tons per year of para-xylene using the UOP Parex process.
Para-xylene is a key ingredient in the production of PTA (purified terephthalic acid), which is used to make polyester for fabric and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) chips for carbonated soft drink and water bottles. The new plant will also produce more than 350 thousand m.t./yr of benzene, another building block in plastics production. The demand for para-xylene in China is expected to grow at an annual rate of 11% over the next 10 years.
Feedstock to the aromatics complex will in part be provided by a new UOP Unicracking process unit that will process 2.2 million tons/yr of heavy gas oil from crude oil and convert it to more usable products such as diesel, kerosene, and naphtha. The para-xylene complex will also include a UOP CCR Platforming process unit to convert naphtha to aromatics and hydrogen, a UOP Isomar process unit to convert other xylenes to para-xylene, and a UOP Tatoray process unit to increase the yield of para-xylene and benzene.
UOP says engineering design is currently in progress.