UOP LLC, a Honeywell company said China’s Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. will use Honeywell UOP’s latest generation technologies and equipment to build an energy-efficient petrochemical complex. “The Yinchuan City, Ningxia, China, complex will produce valuable petrochemicals as well as high-quality gasoline, and is expected to come online in 2018,” Honeywell said in a press release. The new complex will be the first in China to use Honeywell UOP’s energy efficient aromatics complex design to convert heavy naphtha, into 800,000 metric tons per year of high-purity paraxylene (PX). PX is the primary component for making synthetic fibres, packaging and plastics, and it is in high demand in Asia. The plant will also produce 520,000 metric tons per year of high-quality gasoline and 200,000 metric tons per year of benzene, a basic petrochemical building block. “Nowhere in the world is PX demand growing as fast as it is in Asia,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “UOP’s next-generation aromatics technology combines the latest catalysts and adsorbents with an energy-efficient design to reduce energy consumption by as much as 20 per cent,” he added. “With UOP technology, Ningxia Baota can become a more competitive player in the Asian PX market, which accounts for 83 per cent of the global PX demand,” Millard observed. In addition to licensing, Honeywell UOP will provide the basic engineering, commissioning services, training services, proprietary equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the new complex. Honeywell UOP is a licensor of process technology for the production of aromatics and as of last year, UOP licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units. This includes more than 300 CCR Platforming process units, 42 Isom process units, 155 Sulfolane process units, 80 Isomar process units, 65 Tatoray process units and 100 Parex process units worldwide. Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Ningxia Baota Petrochemical Co., Ltd., which offers crude oil processing services with a total production capacity of 25 million metric tons. UOP LLC is a supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. UOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc. and is part of Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group. Honeywell is a Fortune 100 company serving customers with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; turbochargers and performance materials.
