17-01-2019

Honeywell technology and controls selected for largest petrochemicals project in China

Honeywell announced today that Zhejiang Petrochemical Co. Ltd will use a range of process technology from Honeywell UOP, the world’s leading licensor of refining and petrochemical process technology, for the second phase of an integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province. The complex is one of several new large industrial sites that are part of China’s current national economic development plan.

In the first phase of the project announced in 2017, ZPC selected Honeywell UOP technologies for hydroprocessing and heavy oil upgrading, and to make aromatics for plastic resins, films and fibers that are the basis for millions of products.

For this second phase of the project, Honeywell UOP will supply a wide range of technology licenses, engineering design, key equipment, and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents, more than doubling the plant’s aromatics capacity. In addition, the Honeywell Experion® Process Knowledge System will provide process controls and automation systems for the complex.

“This second phase of the complex by itself will process 20 million tons per year of crude oil and produce another six million tons per year of aromatics when completed,” said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager, Process Technology and Equipment, at Honeywell UOP. “It will be the largest crude-to-chemicals complex in the world, with more than 50 percent of the crude converting to petrochemicals. Due to its sheer scale, the complex will help China move closer to achieving self-sufficiency in paraxylene while serving as a major new source of propylene, jet fuel and more.”

The second phase of the project will include:
* A two-train LD Parex™ aromatics complex — including the UOP Sulfolane™, Isomar™ and Tatoray™ processes — for the production of 4.8 million metric tons per year of paraxylene, a primary ingredient in plastics
* A refining section with three Honeywell UOP Unicracking™ process units to convert vacuum gas oil and distillate into petrochemical feedstock
* Two Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) Platforming™ units to produce aromatics and blend stocks for making high-octane fuels, and a reverse Butamer™ unit to produce normal butane
* Honeywell Experion® Distributed Control Systems designed and configured especially for Honeywell UOP processes
Honeywell UOP is the world’s leading licensor of process technology for the production of aromatics. As of 2018, UOP licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units for the production of aromatics, including more than 300 CCR Platforming process units, 158 Sulfolane units, 85 Butamer units, 80 Isomar units, 58 Tatoray units, 100 Parex units worldwide.