The hottest ethylene carries the national memory o

Ethylene: carrying the national memory of modern industry

ethylene: carrying the national memory of modern industry

May 15, 2019

after years of development, China's ethylene industry has entered the ranks of a few countries that independently master large-scale complete sets of ethylene technology on the basis of a blank -

after half a century of development, China's ethylene industry is moving forward from a large production country to a powerful production country, It has become the second largest ethylene producer in the world after the United States. According to statistics, the total domestic ethylene production capacity in 2018 was about 26million tons, accounting for about 14% of the total global production capacity; The new production capacity is about 1.65 million tons, with a growth rate of 7%

China's ethylene industry was once a blank coating. More than ten years after the founding of new China, China's ethylene production was almost zero, and more than 90% of petrochemical products were imported. In the 1960s, China's first steam cracking unit was completed and put into operation in Lanzhou Petrochemical Company, opening China's petrochemical history with ethylene units as the leader, except for a series of problems caused by components. In the 1990s, in order to expand production capacity and reduce energy consumption, Yanshan Petrochemical expanded the 300000 t/a ethylene plant to 450000 T/A, and then expanded to 700000 T/A. This ethylene expansion project has played a model role for the development of China's ethylene industry. Referring to its model, four ethylene plants in Shanghai, Yangzi, Qilu and Daqing have also undergone technological transformation, and the annual production capacity of the plant has increased from 300000 tons 1 The scope was expanded to 400000 ~ 450000 tons, and then expanded to 700000 ~ 800000 tons. In terms of scale and technical level, the revamped ethylene plant and downstream petrochemical plant have reached the international leading level of the same era

in 2010, Tianjin Petrochemical's 1million ton/year ethylene plant, the largest one million ton ethylene unit in China at that time, was successfully started at one time, marking that China has mastered the ability to independently build a million ton ethylene plant. In that year, China has formed nine million ton ethylene production bases. In 2012, Daqing Petrochemical's 600000 T/a ethylene plant was completed and put into operation, achieving the goal of localization of large-scale ethylene technology packages

ethylene technology is regarded as one of the petrochemical technologies with the highest technical content. Through research, design, production, equipment manufacturing and other units, several generations of technical personnel have continued to jointly tackle key problems for more than 30 years. Ethylene technology has made breakthroughs from a blank to cracking technology, and finally completed the integrated innovation of green and efficient million ton ethylene complete technology, realizing the comprehensive leap of China's ethylene technology, making China one of the few countries in the world that independently master ethylene complete technology, Sinopec also ranks among the world's top five patentees. On December 18, 2018, the green and efficient million ton ethylene complete set technology development and industrial application project jointly completed by 10 units including Sinopec Engineering Construction Co., Ltd. passed the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements. The development and industrial application of this complete set of green and efficient million ton ethylene technology has led to the continuous innovation of ethylene technology, promoted the rapid development of ethylene industry and downstream related industries, and is generally at the international leading level

in the past 70 years, China has experienced the evolution of ethylene equipment from scratch and from weak to strong. Ethylene cracking furnace is the core unit of ethylene cracking. For many years, relevant technologies and equipment have been monopolized by foreign enterprises, which seriously restricts the development of ethylene technology and production capacity in China

the CBL cracking furnace independently developed by Sinopec has now ranked in the forefront of technical strength, breaking the long-term monopoly of domestic ethylene plants by foreign equipment such as the American SRT cracking furnace, the US cracking furnace, the millisecond cracking furnace, the German LSCC cracking furnace, and the French gradient dynamics cracking furnace. At present, Sinopec has realized the localization of the process, engineering design and equipment manufacturing of cracking furnace and separation system, and is gradually realizing the localization of the design and manufacturing of cold box and ethylene three machines (cracking gas compressor, propylene compressor, ethylene compressor)

the three ethylene units undertake the important functions of separation, preparation and supply of raw materials for ethylene production, which is related to the full load and high-quality operation of the entire chemical production system. They have been introduced from abroad. They are the last of the three units to achieve localization, and are known as the "crown" in the field of compressors. In 1998, Daqing Petrochemical first adopted the 240000 T/a ethylene plant compressor manufactured by Shengu group, announcing that China could build its own centrifugal compressor for large ethylene plants

with the localization of Tianjin Petrochemical cracking gas compressor, Zhenhai Refining propylene compressor, Sinopec Fushun China wood pulp import structure, Sinopec ethylene compressor due to the small experimental force, Wuhan Petrochemical Ethylene Compressor and other large units, China has completely broken the monopoly of foreign countries. At present, the production capacity of domestic ethylene single unit has reached 1million tons/year, with the development and complete set capacity of million ton ethylene plant

at the same time, China's ethylene industry has also made remarkable achievements in domestic additives. The technology and application project of key auxiliaries in the complete process of large-scale ethylene plants, which won the second prize of the national science and Technology Progress Award in 2018, has integrated and created key auxiliaries in the complete process of ethylene plants, breaking the long-term dependence on imports of key auxiliaries in ethylene plants in China, and realizing large-scale application. The achievements of the project have effectively promoted the cost reduction and efficiency increase of petrochemical enterprises, improved the self owned technical level of China's ethylene industry, and greatly promoted the localization process of "three agents" in China's petrochemical industry

in the future, with the promotion of the construction of seven major petrochemical bases in China, the commissioning of many coal (methanol) to olefin units, especially the construction of a large number of ethane (light hydrocarbon) cracking units, the ethylene industry will usher in explosive growth and import dependence will be completely reversed