PetroChina Dagang refinery’s Ionikylation unit reaches operational milestone

PetroChina Dagang Petrochemical Co. has achieved 1,000 continuous operating days on its Ionikylation unit equipped with composite ionic liquid (CIL) alkylation technology for production of high-octane alkylate at the operator’s 5-million tonne/year (tpy) refinery in Dagang, Tianjin, on northeastern China’s Dagang field along the Bohai Sea coast (OGJ Online, Aug. 26, 2022).

Commissioned in mid-August 2022, the 150,000-tpy CIL unit—which produces high-octane alkylate with a RON of 98 to ensure the site’s 1.5-million tpy production of gasoline meets China’s current National VI (equivalent to Euro 6) emission standard—reached the operating milestone as of May 12, said Well Resources Inc., global licensor of the CIL technology.

Upon announcing the operational update, Well Resources also confirmed field testing of a next-generation CIL catalyst formulation that began in late 2023 has reduced the unit’s catalyst-consumption rate by 35% compared to the plant’s original design basis.

Well Resources and Dagang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of PetroChina Co. Ltd.—the publicly listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.—are currently discussing other unspecified process-optimization initiatives for the CIL-configured alkylation unit, the service provider said.

Based on Beijing-based China University of Petroleum’s Ionikylation process, the technology uses a proprietary CIL catalyst that eliminates reliance on more dangerous, corrosive, and hazardous chemicals—such as hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids—to safely and more efficiently produce low-sulfur, high-octane alkylate free of sulfur, benzene, olefins, and aromatics that complies with increasingly more stringent clean-fuel standards (OGJ Online, Apr. 1, 2022).

In 2020, Ionikylation was the first ionic liquids-based technology used in a commercial-scale revamp of an existing hydrofluoric acid-based alkylation unit at China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) subsidiary Wuhan Petrochemical Co. Ltd.’s 8.5-million tpy refinery in Wuhan City, Hubei Province (OGJ Online, Apr. 16, 2020).