Commissioning of 12,000 tons/year dimethyl carbonate purification plant

Huicong Chemical Industry Network: On August 15, 2019, Qianxi Chemical Company completed the internal purge of 12,000 tons/year dimethyl Carbonate (DMC) purification unit and began to commission formally.

Dimethyl Carbonate is a chemical raw material with low toxicity, excellent environmental protection performance and wide application, especially as a methylation treatment agent, it has obvious substitution effect, meets the requirements of modern clean technology, and is known as a green product with broad market prospects.

The project started in September 2018 and belongs to the technical renovation project of Qianxi Chemicals Complementation. It is provided by Tianjin University and designed by Donghua Guizhou Company. In the process of coal-to-Ethylene Glycol production, in the reactor of dimethyl oxalate (DMO), besides the main reaction of DMO formation, the side reaction of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) will also be produced. In distillation system, although dimethyl carbonate can be separated by separating tower, the concentration of dimethyl carbonate can only reach 62.35%, accompanied by 28.83% methanol. If the by-products are sold directly, the selling price is only 1500 CNY/ton. The added value of by-products can not be reflected, which also leads to the increase of methanol consumption in the system and the increase of production cost of ethylene glycol. In order to improve the added value of the product, Qianxi Chemical Company is determined to purify the by-product dimethyl carbonate. The purified dimethyl carbonate (DMC) can meet the quality standard of high-grade products. Meanwhile, methanol can be recovered to reduce the consumption of methanol and the production cost of ethylene glycol. After putting into use, the device can produce 12,000 tons of high-grade dimethyl carbonate (DMC) per year and recover 5,000 tons of methanol per year. The selling price can reach 5000 CNY/ton, and the additional product is worth upgrading. The device is a one-time investment without catalyst, and the economic benefit is obvious.