Chinese operator lets contract for ethane-only crackers

April 23, 2018
Lianyungang Petrochemical Co., a subsidiary of Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co.—also known as Zhejiang Satellite Energy Co. (Satellite Energy)—has let a contract to CB&I to provide ethylene technology for LPCL’s petrochemical complex in Xujing New District, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China.

Lianyungang Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (LPCL), a subsidiary of Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co. Ltd.—also known as Zhejiang Satellite Energy Co. Ltd. (Satellite Energy)—has let a contract to CB&I, Houston, to provide ethylene technology for LPCL’s petrochemical complex in Xujing New District, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China.

Alongside the project’s process design package, CB&I will deliver heater engineering and technology licensing for two ethylene plants, each with a production capacity of 1.25 million tonnes/year, CB&I said.

Project design will be based on CB&I’s low-cost ethane cracker flowsheet, which reduces investment costs by eliminating plant equipment, CB&I said.

Once completed, the plants will be China’s first ethylene plants to crack 100% ethane feed, signaling a new wave of ethylene projects to be fed by US-sourced shale gas ethane, the service provider said.

Currently, all of China’s large ethylene plants crack mixed or liquid feeds.

CB&I disclosed neither a value nor duration of the contract.

In addition to the ethylene units, LPCL’s two-phased project also will include separate units for production of linear low-density/high-density polyethylene, ethylene oxide-ethylene glycol, styrene, and acrylonitrile, according to Satellite Energy’s web site.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].