First in the World Naphtha Adsorptive Separation Unit Passed Calibration Tests at Yangzi Petrochemical Company

On March 30, 2015 the first in the world naphtha adsorptive separation unit had passed the calibration tests at the Yangzi Petrochemical Company (YPC). This calibration has successfully measured the extract yield and the purity of raffinate under various operating loads, and the test results have proved that the main operating indicators have reached the design targets. When the steam cracking unit runs exclusively on the naphtha feedstock from the adsorptive separation unit, the ethylene yield is equal to 41%, which is by 12% higher than that obtained from conventional naphtha feed to demonstrate a good economic benefit. This technology is jointly developed and applied by SINOPEC and UOP to construct the first in the world 1.3 Mt/a pre-hydrotreating unit and 1.2 Mt/a adsorptive separation unit. All facilities at YPC have been started up with success at the first attempt and have been operating smoothly. These units had passed the calibration tests under various loads for 72 hours starting March 23, 2015. The calibration tests have shown that the concentration of normal paraffins exceeds 92% with their yield reaching 84%—85% to meet the technical targets, which have unravel the bottlenecks to create necessary prerequisites for stable and long-cycle operation in the future.