Axens Awarded the First Crude-to-Paraxylene Complex in China

Hengli Petrochemical Co. Ltd has selected Axens to supply technologies for its Petrochemical project to be located at Changxing Island in China's Liaoning Province. This “crude-to-paraxylene” complex with a capacity of processing 400 000 BPSD (barrels-per-day) of crude will supply high purity paraxylene to PTA plants (Purified Terephthalic Acid) for PET application.

The complex includes a final-conversion refinery oriented towards the production of naphtha and an aromatic complex to maximize high purity paraxylene production.

As part of the project, Axens will provide the following technologies:

• 2 parallel trains of H-Oil™_RC units, using ebullated bed technology, for the hydroconversion of vacuum residue, combined with a Solvahl™ deasphalting unit for processing the unconverted residue,
• 2 hydrocracking (HyK™) units for processing straight run vacuum distillate and those produced by the H-Oil™_RC unit along with the deasphalted oil from the Solvahl™ unit,
• 2 parallel trains of hydrocracking units to process atmospheric gasoil in maximum naphtha production mode,
• 1 naphtha hydrotreating unit,
• 3 parallel aromizing™ units using a continuous catalytic regenerative (CCR) reforming process to maximize aromatics production from naphtha,
• 2 parallel Aromatics chains using Eluxyl® 1.15 technology for paraxylene purification combined with Oparis® technology for full isomerization of other C₈ aromatics into paraxylene,
• 1 MTBE unit.

The new complex will be the largest site in the world for the production of high purity paraxylene along with LPG, gasoline and diesel fuels meeting China 5 specifications, jet fuel and base lube oils, the pitch from Solvahl feeding a gazification unit. Axens’ large technology portfolio and ability to maximize naphtha production, and therefore paraxylene production, were key criteria for selecting Axens as the main technology provider.

Over the last twelve months, Axens has been awarded a cumulative paraxylene production capacity of about 7 Mtpa (million tons per annum).

Hengli Group

Hengli Group which was founded in 1994 now owns the largest PTA factory of monomer capacity, the largest production base of superbright polyester yarn and industrial yarn, the largest weaving enterprise in the world. It now has more than 50,000 staffs, and has been established into "Enterprise Technology Center" of our country. Its business sets foot in several industries such as petrochemical, polyester,chemical fiber, weaving, thermal power, machinery, hotel and real estate,etc. The enterprise competitiveness and brand value of the products stand first on the list among the same industry. In 2014, the sales volume of Hengli Group is RMB 163 billion, which ranks 11th in China's top 100 private enterprises.

Axens

Axens, www.axens.net, is an international provider of advanced technologies, catalysts, adsorbents and services, with a global reputation for basic engineering design excellence. The main scope of Axens' business is focused on the conversion of oil, coal, natural gas and biomass to clean fuels as well as production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates. Axens’ global offer is based on: highly trained human resources, modern production facilities and extensive commercial feedback from plants using our processes and catalysts all around the world.