The world's Largest: Key Equipment Delivery for Guangxi Petrochemical Large-Scale Project

On March 30, the first production unit of the Sinopec Guangxi Petrochemical Refining and Chemical Integration Transformation and Upgrading Project was successfully completed and handed over. The world's largest 2 million tons/year diesel adsorption separation unit was delivered to high standards, marking an important step in the project construction.

The advanced unit was carefully built by Daqing Oilfield Construction Group, the EPC general contractor of Kunlun Engineering, and Qingdao Huayou provided strict supervision. The project started in October 2023 and was completed in 525 days.

This breakthrough diesel adsorption separation unit uses innovative "oil reduction and chemical increase" technology and is carefully developed based on the principle of "molecular engineering". It can separate various diesel fractions with high purity and maximize the extraction value of raw materials.

The unit has a high degree of integration and complex processing capabilities. It uses hydrotreated refined diesel as its main raw material. A key aspect of its design is the strategic use of its output stream. The non-aromatic compounds produced by the adsorption process are important raw materials for the project's ethylene cracking unit, which can optimize resource utilization within the integrated facility. At the same time, the heavy aromatics produced can be used to increase the output of high-value products such as naphtha and propylene, further improving the economic feasibility of the project. Key parts of the unit include adsorption and residual liquid extraction processes.

The Sinopec Guangxi Petrochemical Refining and Chemical Integration Transformation and Upgrading Project is a major strategic initiative under the national petrochemical industry planning framework, with a total investment of RMB 30.5 billion. The overall project plan includes the construction of a 1.2 million tons/year ethylene refining unit and a corresponding supporting facilities network. The network includes 14 different chemical units and two refining units. The entire project is expected to be completed and put into use in 2025.

The project has 14 major chemical plants, including a 1.2 million tons/year ethylene plant, a 550,000 tons/year cracked gasoline hydrogenation combined styrene extraction plant, a 180,000 tons/year butadiene extraction plant, a 100,000/60,000 tons/year MTBE/butene-1 plant, a 350,000 tons/year aromatics extraction plant, a 400,000 tons/year full-density polyethylene plant (FDPE), a 300,000 tons/year high-density polyethylene plant (HDPE), a 300,000 tons/year tubular ethylene-vinyl acetate plant (EVA), a 100,000 tons/year kettle ethylene-vinyl acetate plant (H-EVA), a 400,000 tons/year polypropylene plant (PP), a 50,000 tons/year hexene-1 plant, a 270,000/600,000 tons/year propylene oxide/styrene plant (PO/SM), a 300,000 tons/year polystyrene plant (PS), and a 120,000/80,000 tons/year solution butadiene rubber integrated plant (SSBR/SBS).

The successful completion and commissioning of this large-scale refining and chemical integration project will promote a major transformation of Sinopec Guangxi Petrochemical, realizing a strategic shift from a production model dominated by "fuel type" to a production model dominated by high value-added "chemical products and organic materials", marking the modernization of the company's industrial capabilities, from a basic refining industry to a more advanced "basic + high-end" energy and chemical materials complex.

In addition, this milestone project has great strategic significance for the entire regional economy. The project is expected to play a key role in filling the existing gaps in the region's high-end chemical new materials industry and meeting the growing market demand of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, and ultimately help to establish a trillion-level petrochemical industry cluster strategically positioned to serve the ASEAN market. The completion of the world's largest diesel adsorption separation unit represents a tangible step towards achieving these ambitious goals.