MOSCOW (MRC) -- The development and industrial applications of methanol-to-olefins (MTO) separation technology undertaken by Wison Engineering have recently passed scientific and technological appraisal conducted by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association (CPCIA), reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to the company's statement.
The appraisal results show that Wison Engineering’s proprietary MTO separation technology has reached advanced international standards and is highly competitive in the market.
The experts concluded that Wison Engineering’s MTO separation technology is innovative and advanced in comparison to similar technologies both in China and overseas, as it is the first to apply pre-cutting and oil absorption technology to the separation of MTO reaction byproducts, according to Wison officials.
"MTO technology involves a reaction and separation process," the CPCIA expert said. "Wison Engineering’s self-developed MTO separation technology plays an important role in enhancing the whole process of MTO. Moreover, it helps break the technological monopoly enjoyed by foreign enterprises in this area, thereby reducing the dependence on foreign technology and promoting the development of domestic MTO industry, and is therefore of great significance in driving China’s economic development."
The appraisal shows that when compared to imported technologies currently in use, Wison Engineering’s MTO separation technology increases the ethylene yield by 1%.
With low capital investment requirements and featuring low energy consumption and high product yields, this technology has been or will be applied at eight coal-to-olefins plants of different sizes in China. Two of them have commenced production and produce polymer-grade ethylene and propylene, with low energy consumption levels and product yields that exceed the design specifications.
Meanwhile, the first 300,000 tpy MTO plant utilizing the technology was launched for production in Nanjing Chemical Industrial Park nearly two years ago. It is running smoothly, company officials said, with a product yield exceeding 99.7% and energy consumption per unit of product separated of only 592 kcal.
As MRC informed previously, last year, Sinopec Engineering and its subsidiaries received a USD3.1-billion engineering, procurement and construction contract from Zhong Tian He Chuang Energy Corp. for what will be "by far the world's largest coal-to-olefin project," said Sinopec. Sinopec said the project, to be built in Uxin Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, involves a coal gasification unit, a purification unit, a 3.6-million-t/y synthetic methanol unit, two 1.8-million-t/y methanol-to-olefins units and a 200,000-t/y olefin catalytic cracking unit. The project also includes a 350,000-t/y polypropylene (PP) unit (loop reactor), a 350,000-t/y PP unit (gas reactor), a 120,000-t/y low-density polyethylene (LDPE) unit (tank reactor), a 250,000-t/y LDPE unit (tubular reactor), a 300,000-t/y linear LDPE unit (gas reactor) and a combined 10,000-t/y methyl tertiary butyl ether and 30,000-t/y 1-butylene unit.
MRC