Chinese independent refiner Sinochem Hongrun Petrochemical Co. Ltd., an affiliate of Sinochem Group, has let a contract to ExxonMobil Catalysts & Licensing LLC to provide technology licensing for a grassroots residual upgrading unit at the operator’s 5 million-tonne/year refining and petrochemical complex in the Binhai Economic-Technological Development Area of Weifang City, Shandong Province, China.
ExxonMobil will license its proprietary Flexicoking technology for the new upgrader, which will be equipped to process about 1.2 million tpy of vacuum residue feedstock to enable production of high-quality liquid products, including transportation fuels, chemical feedstocks, and fuel gas, ExxonMobil said.
Currently in its engineering design phase, the unit is scheduled for startup in 2020, the technology provider said.
Alongside improving environmental performance by eliminating both open-air coke handling and coal transportation as well as reducing fired-heater emissions because of fuel gas produced by the unit, implementation of the Flexicoking technology also will enable Sinochem Hongrun’s refinery to improve resid upgrading by minimizing capital investment and energy consumption, according to Chris Birdsall, president of ExxonMobil Catalysts & Licensing.
A continuous fluid-bed technology, the Flexicoking process offers increased flexibility vs. conventional delayed coking by thermally converting heavy oils such as vacuum resid, oil sands bitumen, deasphalter bottoms, and FCC bottoms into lighter, more valuable products. The technology also allows a refiner to greatly eliminate petroleum coke production by integrating fluid coking with air-steam gasification while providing a clean fuel gas.
Complex overview
According to reports from local Chinese media—alongside its 3.5 million-tpy heavy asphalt and 1.5 million-tpy distillation units—Sinochem Hongrun’s complex is equipped with the following major capacities:
• Delayed coking, 1.4 million tpy.
• Catalytic cracking, 600,000 tpy.
• Hydroprocessing, 1.2 million tpy.
• Gasoline hydroprocessing, 600,000 tpy.
• Hydrogen production, 2.3 million tpy.
• Sulfur recovery, 50,000 tpy.
• Acid-water stripping, 800,000 tpy.
• Gas separation, 500,000 tpy.
• MTBE, 80,000 tpy.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
