China’s Wonfull starts up world’s first solid acid catalyst alkylation unit

The world’s first commercial-scale, solid acid catalyst alkylation unit was started up recently at Zibo Haiyi Fine Chemical Co., a subsidiary of Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical Group Co. (Wonfull), officials announced on Thursday.

The unit employs CB&I’s breakthrough AlkyClean technology, jointly developed by CB&I, Albemarle and Neste. The unit has a capacity of 2,700 bpd of alkylate production (100,000 metric tpy). 

The unit located in Zibo, Shandong Province, China, has achieved all performance expectations thus far. Since the startup, the alkylate product has demonstrated excellent quality, including an octane value (RON) between 96 and 98—a considerably higher RON than typical alkylate products

RON is considered an indicator of the alkylate’s value as a gasoline blending component.

The AlkyClean technology uses Albemarle’s AlkyStar catalyst, a robust fixed-bed zeolite catalyst. By pairing this catalyst with CB&I’s novel reactor scheme, the AlkyClean process is able to produce a high-quality alkylate product without the use of liquid-acid catalysts typical of other alkylation technologies, which makes the process inherently safer. 

Without the need for post treatment, and the elimination of waste streams such as acid soluble oils, the AlkyClean process offers a more efficient technology for the production of alkylate.

The safe and successful start-up of this unit is truly a milestone, company officials say, and would not have been possible without the strong collaboration among CB&I, Albemarle and Wonfull.