MOSCOW (MRC) -- KBR announced that Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co. has successfully commissioned a new ethylene facility in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, utilizing KBR's SCORE (Selective Cracking Optimum Recovery) technology, accoring to Apic-online.
The 1-million-t/y ethylene plant is part of Sinochem's grassroots integrated refining and petrochemical complex, which also includes a 400,000-t/y high-density polyethylene (HDPE) facility, which recently achieved on-spec production, as well as an 800,000-t/y paraxylene (PX) plant, a 350,000-t/y polypropylene (PP) unit and an aromatics extraction unit with 300,000 t/y of capacity.
Sinochem is also expanding its existing refining capacity by 60,000 b/d to 300,000 b/d.
In addition to SCORE technology, KBR also supplied key proprietary components of the SCORE SC-1 furnaces, which deliver high product yields, KBR noted.
As MRC reported earlier, in January 2020, Sinochem Energy, a unit of China’s Sinochem Group, agreed to sell a 20% stake to five state-owned firms for 11.56 billion yuan (USD1.65 billion).
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing PE and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,760,950 tonnes in the first ten months of 2020, up by 3% year on year. Only high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 978,870 tonnes in January-October 2020 (calculated using the formula: production minus exports plus imports minus producers' inventories as of 1 January, 2020). Supply of exclusively of PP random copolymer increased.
Sinochem Group engages in energy, agriculture, chemicals, real estate, and finance service businesses in China and internationally. It is involved in the exploration and production, refining and trading, warehousing and logistics, and distribution and retailing of oil and gas. The company also produces and distributes fertilizers, such as nitrogen, phosphate, potash, and other fertilizers.
MRC