04-05-2020

CNOOC Huizhou Petrochemical Company selects ParamaX technology from Axens

CNOOC Huizhou Petrochemical Company Limited (CHPCL) has selected Axens’ 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 tons per year. The new aromatics complex will produce 1,500,000 tons per year of para-Xylene in a single train.

Axens offered its second generation of the energy-efficient ParamaX® Suite of technologies for the cost-effective production of para-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 para-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 tons of pure aromatics per year.

Axens’ Process Licensing Global Business Unit Executive Vice-President Patrick Sarrazin said, “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 para-Xylene and other aromatic molecules such as meta-Xylene, ortho-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.