Sinopec Luoyang Petrochemical (LPC) started construction of million-tonne ethylene cracking unit on May 27, which is located in Luoyang city of Central China's Henan province, according to OilChem.
Based on OilChem's data, the ethylene capacity totaled 46.75 million tonnes/year by 2022, and that might rise by 4.4 million t/y or so in 2023. In the face of the accelerated growth rate of ethylene industry in the past two years, LPC began to construct this project in a bid to change the current situation of low ethylene production in Henan province.
The project will build 13 sets of main production units, including 1 million t/y ethylene unit, 0.15 million t/y butadiene extraction unit, 0.6 million t/y pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation unit, 0.4 million t/y aromatics extraction unit, 0.03 million t/y styrene extraction unit, 0.3 million t/y m-LLDPE unit, 0.35 million t/y HDPE unit, 0.25 million t/y LDPE/EVA unit, 0.1 million t/y EVA unit, 0.2 million t/y EO unit, 0.35 million t/y 3#PP unit, 0.2 million t/y 4#PP unit and 0.05 million t/y SEBS unit, as well as supporting public works and auxiliary facility, according to market information.
However, due to the low production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), one of the feedstock for ethylene production, in Henan province, LPC would be likely to purchase LPG resources from other places or allocate them within Sinopec, in order to meet the LPG resources required by the ethylene unit, according to OilChem.
In addition to the project, which is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in December 2025, Sinopec also has ethylene projects in Ningbo, Guangdong, Hainan and other regions. OilChem expected that the new ethylene capacity in China might surpass 10 million t/y in the next 2 years, which will increase demand for LPG at home and abroad.
Written by Catherine Sun, sss@oilchem.net
Edited by Navy Liu, navy@oilchem.net
