The hottest technical economy determines the futur

Technical economy determines the future of propylene project

at the beginning of this year, the Ministry of industry and information technology announced the "12th Five Year Plan" for the development of olefin industry, which proposed that by 2015, the diversification rate of olefin raw materials should reach more than 20%. How can the olefin industry seize this major opportunity to achieve steady development and rush to the scene and solve problems within 4 working days? At the first propylene raw material diversification technical and economic seminar held in Shanghai recently, the experts attending the meeting believed that the scientific development of propylene industry should adhere to the technical and economic comparison method, achieve orderly planning, reasonable investment, adapt to local and local conditions, and find a new way of propylene raw material diversification that suits China's national conditions

diversification pattern is emerging.

propylene, like ethylene, is the foundation of modern chemical industry. Propylene in China is mainly used to produce polypropylene, acrylonitrile, butyl/octanol, propylene oxide, acrylic acid and phenol acetone, among which polypropylene takes the lead. Traditional propylene production methods are light hydrocarbon and naphtha pyrolysis. At present, the tight supply of crude oil has led to the increasingly prominent demand contradiction of oil and petrochemical products. Propylene raw materials have been in short supply and have been dependent on imports for a long time. Affected by high oil prices this year, propane prices in the international market have fluctuated frequently, from $1300/ton at the end of January to $1500 in mid April, increasing the chance of collision between Brownian motion particles and nanofibers by $1/ton

the diversification of propylene raw materials in China is imperative, and there are basically no major obstacles in terms of technical route. Shu Chaoxia, chief expert of Sinopec economic and Technological Research Institute, believes that the main application technologies for increasing propylene production in China in the next few years include propane dehydrogenation to propylene (PDH) and coal/methanol to olefins (mto/mtp), olefin cracking (OCP) and olefin conversion (OCT), fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and other propylene production increase technologies, which will also be well promoted

if China builds a capacity of 10million tons of methanol to olefins during the 12th Five Year Plan period, 30million tons of naphtha can be saved, and the corresponding crude oil import can be reduced by about 100million tons, which plays a very important role in ensuring China's energy security

after years of efforts, the diversified pattern of domestic propylene raw materials has initially emerged: on the one hand, the steam cracking and catalytic cracking units of domestic refineries are expanding propylene production capacity through transformation; On the other hand, there are many coal/methanol to olefin and propane dehydrogenation projects that have been put into operation, under construction or under planning. Among them, the world's first self owned technology with an annual output of 600000 tons Shenhua Baotou coal to olefin demonstration project has been put into commercial operation

according to Mu Xin, deputy director of the marketing department of emerging energy technology company, the Shenhua Baotou project runs smoothly, making the production raw materials of ethylene and propylene get rid of the dependence on oil, and opening up a new way to produce ethylene and propylene with more abundant reserves of coal (or natural gas) worldwide

investment projects must guard against risks

different propylene production technologies have different competitiveness, and enterprises need to take comprehensive consideration and guard against risks according to their respective realities. The data shows that an annual production capacity of 460000 tons of coal to propylene reprocessed polypropylene production unit, with an investment of 2.883 billion US dollars; The investment of a set of propane dehydrogenation unit with an annual output of 350000 tons is 215million US dollars; The investment cost of upgrading the catalytic cracking unit is the lowest, and the propylene unit with an annual output of 250000 tons only needs us $35.7 million

at present, there is no industrial application of propane dehydrogenation process in China, but there are about 10 such projects under construction or planning, including the annual output of 600000 tons of propane dehydrogenation of Tianjin Bohai Chemical and petrochemical company. On the whole, the order of plastic machinery in the United States in 2013 increased by 8% compared with last year Among them, the project of Jiangsu Yangtze River international to carry out in-depth development of the chemical industrial park with an annual output of 1.2 million tons of propane dehydrogenation to propylene. At the seminar, after calculation, many experts proposed that if the international price difference between propane and propylene per ton can reach more than US $400, propane dehydrogenation to propylene will produce better economic benefits

the extension of the industrial chain cannot be ignored

the experts present at the meeting pointed out that the world's methanol production capacity is greater than the demand, and it is expected that this year's global methanol production capacity will exceed 70million tons, of which the methanol production capacity in the Middle East will also reach more than 25million tons. Overcapacity in the methanol market makes it possible for some domestic enterprises to purchase methanol to build MTO projects. Experts believe that under the premise of ensuring economy, China can appropriately import methanol to olefin projects in coastal areas

most of the coal to olefin projects (including purchased methanol to olefin) that have been built and are under construction in China have chosen MTO process to produce ethylene and propylene at the same time, and only Shenhua Ningxia coal and Datang Duolun projects take the downstream polypropylene as the main product. Yan Leping, deputy chief engineer of Huayi Group, suggested that the extension of the industrial chain should be considered for new projects, including the construction of polypropylene, propylene oxide, acrylic acid and other devices; The by-product hydrogen can be considered to be linked with propylene oxide, caprolactam, coal to methanol and oil refining units, so as to make deep use of resources and finally realize integrated development

in addition, the problem of preventing excess capacity of propylene has once again attracted the attention of experts. Shu Chaoxia pointed out that many enterprises are competing for projects, which may lead to a "swarm of bees", resulting in a shortage of raw materials and rising prices of propane, and ultimately making enterprises unprofitable. Therefore, it is suggested that Sinopec Federation should enhance the transparency of information, timely release industry trends, and give investment guidance to enterprises to prevent the blind and disorderly expansion of domestic propylene industry