The Linde Group is set to build and operate a new hydrogen plant in the Jilin Chemical Industrial Park (JCIP) in northeast China. The company will be investing around €42 million in the first phase of this new project.
The hydrogen plant is expected onstream by the end of 2013, supplying several companies in the Jilin chemical complex with high-purity hydrogen. This park is home to production facilities run by Evonik Industries and Jishen, a joint venture between the PetroChina Jilin Beifang Chemical Group and the Jilin Shenhua Group.
The new hydrogen plant will use steam methane reforming (SMR) to produce 25,000 Nm3h of hydrogen. It will be built by Linde’s Engineering Division and operated by its Gases Division. In addition, Linde will set up a subsidiary, Linde Gases Jilin, to focus on further expanding the gas supply infrastructure in and around the JCIP chemical complex.
Jishen, Evonik Industries and Huntsman are investing around €390 million in total to construct a chemical hub in Jilin that will produce high-pressure propylene oxide (HPPO). Evonik is building a 230-kiloton/yr hydrogen peroxide plant to supply Jishen’s 300-kiloton/yr HPPO plant. Jishen will then supply the HPPO to Huntsman for its polyol plant.
LG Chem has chosen Burckhardt Compression to deliver one hyper compressor as a secondary compressor and one process gas compressor as a booster/primary compressor for its low-density polyethylene (LDPE) ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) plant in Daesan, Korea.
After a thorough evaluation phase, LG Chem selected Burckhardt Compression, thanks to the proven technology and numerous references to LDPE plants with similar or larger capacities. For LG Chem, it is essential to have a single point of contact for both compressors since both compressors are installed in the main production line and are interdependent. Burckhardt Compression bears the overall responsibility for the package, that is, for compressing ethylene gas over the whole compression range.
The compressors are scheduled for delivery in December 2012.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has received a contract from Shell India Markets Private Ltd. to establish an integrated organization with Shell Projects & Technology for its project design office in Bangalore, India. Contract duration is 5 years with provision for a further extension.
The Integrated Project Design Organization expects to deliver a full range of engineering and design services for onshore upstream (oil and gas) and downstream major capital projects, mainly in the Middle Eastern and Far Eastern regions. The new organization aims to blend the strong technical and engineering design capability held by Shell and Jacobs, while optimizing the best work processes and tools of both companies.
UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, will provide key technology to Zhejiang Shaoxing Sanjin Petrochemical Co., Ltd., to produce propylene in China. The new propane dehydrogenation unit will use Honeywell’s UOP C3 Oleflex process technology to produce 450,000 metric tpy of propylene. The unit is expected to start up in 2013 at Zhejiang’s facility in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China. In addition to technology licensing, Honeywell’s UOP will also provide engineering design, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for the project.
Since the technology was commercialized in 1990, Honeywell’s UOP has commissioned nine C3 Oleflex units for on-purpose propylene production, with the tenth unit scheduled to start up in 2012 in Russia. Earlier this year, Honeywell’s UOP announced four similar projects in China, as well as one in Abu Dhabi.
In June, SAMSON India opened its new production facilities in Ranjangaon in the Maharashtra district. About €3.5 million was invested in the 18,000-m² facilities to ensure an optimum supply for the fast-growing Indian market. During the opening ceremony, Mr. Hans-Erich Grimm, head of SAMSON AG’s Sales Division, pointed out that six chemical and petrochemical sites will be established in India thanks to the support of the Indian Government in the next few years: “A total of $250,000 million will be invested in these sites. We expect a huge demand for our products and services in India.”
Essar Oil Ltd., a subsidiary of Essar Energy, has successfully commissioned a new isomerization (ISOM) unit at its Vadinar refinery. The 0.7 million-metric-tpy ISOM unit is a key component of the refinery’s Phase I expansion, which will increase its capacity to 18 million metric tpy. Reported to be among the largest ISOM units in the world, the commissioning of this unit was completed in just 32 days (as against an industry average of 50–55 days), without compromising on safety.
The ISOM unit (Penex-DIH) is licensed by UOP, a Honeywell company. It is the first expansion unit to be fully commissioned, and, as such, it is now ready to start commercial production. Using naphtha as its primary feed, the ISOM unit will help produce Euro IV-grade gasoline with a high-octane rating and almost zero sulfur content. This will enable Essar Oil to produce high-grade gasoline that has wide acceptance both in the domestic and international markets.
The Vadinar refinery expansion project is very close to completion. Mechanical completion has been achieved for 27 new units and utilities. Mechanical completion of the pending units—a delayed-coker unit (DCU), a vacuum-gasoil hydrotreater (VGO-HT) and a new sulfur-recovery unit (SRU)—is expected by the end of the month. Startup activity has commenced for all of the new expansion units that have been mechanically completed, and they will be commissioned in a phased manner. Increased refinery throughput of 18 million metric tpy will begin in the first quarter of 2012.
Asahi Kasei Chemicals has decided to construct a second plant in Singapore to produce solution-polymerized styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR), with a capacity of 50,000 tpy. The new plant will be located adjacent to an S-SBR plant of the same capacity that is presently under construction.
Construction began in June 2011, and startup is scheduled for May 2013. With S-SBR demand expected to increase further, Asahi Kasei Chemicals decided to advance plans for a second plant in Singapore to meet customer needs and ensure stable supply.
Uzbekistan GTL LLC has awarded Technip an extension of the existing reimbursable services contract for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant located 40 km south of Qarshi in Uzbekistan.
This plant will be based on Sasol’s GTL technology, and will have a capacity of 1.4 million metric tpy, similar in capacity to the Oryx GTL facility in Qatar implemented by Technip, with the following product slate: GTL, diesel, kerosine, naphtha and liquid petroleum gas.
Bechtel International Inc. has selected Honeywell to design and implement automation and safety solutions for a new multi-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility under construction as part of the Australia Pacific LNG project in Queensland. The project—a joint venture between Origin Energy, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec—will create a long-term industry utilizing Australia Pacific LNG’s coal-seam gas (CSG) resources in the Surat and Bowen basins. Bechtel selected Honeywell Process Solutions to provide vital integrated control and safety systems (ICSS) at the new facility, which is designed to convert CSG to LNG.
The project will produce CSG for commercial markets both locally and overseas, and it already supplies gas to power stations in Queensland, major industrial customers, and homes and businesses in southeast Queensland.
Air Liquide and Sinopec have agreed on the supply of gaseous oxygen and nitrogen to the 200,000-Nm3/h coal-to-hydrogen project and existing refinery of Sinopec’s Maoming branch (MPCC) in Maoming, Guangdong Province, China.
MPCC’s refinery expansion project will enable MPCC to produce cleaner fuels to meet the higher environmental standards. After project completion, MPCC will reportedly become one of the biggest refineries in China with an oil-refining capacity exceeding 20 million tpy.
The supply will be based on the investment in a new air-separation unit (ASU) with an oxygen capacity of 3,000 tpd. The unit, which will reportedly be the largest ASU to be built in China, is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2013.
For the gas supply to MPCC, Air Liquide and Sinopec have entered into a 50/50 joint venture (JV). Under contract terms, the JV will also take over and operate MPCC’s existing ASUs. The JV’s global investment will be around €85million. HP