Chinese operator lets contract for proposed light-hydrocarbon processing complex

Xi'An Changqing Tongxin Petroleum Machinery Co. Ltd. subsidiary Qingyang Tongxin Petroleum Technology Co. Ltd. has let contracts to Lummus Technology LLC and catalyst partner Clariant International Ltd.’s Clariant Catalysts for a proposed grassroots dehydrogenation unit to be built in Qingyang City, Gansu Province, China.

As part of the contract, Lummus Technology will license its proprietary CATOFIN process technology for the operator’s first paraffin dehydrogenation plant that will use Clariant’s tailor-made catalysts and Heat Generating Material (HGM) to co-process 300,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of combined propane and isobutane from locally sourced LPG feedstock into on-purpose propylene and isobutylene, Lummus and Clariant said in separate mid-June releases.

Alongside technology licensing, Lummus said its scope of work on the project also includes delivery of basic engineering, training, and technical advisory services.

While neither Lummus nor Clariant revealed further details regarding the proposed project, information available on the Gansu provincial government’s website shows the new plant comes as part of the operator’s broader 500,000-tonne/day light-hydrocarbon deep processing complex currently under development in Qingyang City’s Xifeng industrial park.

Scheduled for startup by yearend 2025, the complex will house a series of plants designed to process by-products from China's Changqing oil field. In addition to the dehydration plant, project documents showed the complex will include, among others, the following major installations:

• 600,000-tpy liquefied gas separation unit.
• 500,000-tpy liquefied gas desulfurization unit.
• 120,000-tpy butanediol unit.
• 150,000-tpy maleic anhydride unit.
• 30,000-tpy polybutylene succinate unit.

The development also will have capacity to produce 120,000 tpy of methyl tertiary butyl ether, according to the provincial government.