The 1.8 MT/a Methanol To Olefin (MTO) Plant at Zhongtian Hechuang Erdos Coal Deep Processing Pilot Project, which is jointly constructed by SEI EPC company, No. 10 and No. 4 construction companies and other related companies, produced acceptable ethylene and propylene at 18:00 pm on October 17 after 42 hours of safe and environmental commissioning without back-up ethylene. The commissioning was a success by one shot and also the success of China’s first large S-MTO plant of which Sinopec owns the exclusive intellectual property rights.
The Zhongtian Hechuang MTO plant adopts the S-MTO process technology independently developed by Chinese entities, including SEI, Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology and Yanshan Petrochemical. It’s the first time S-MTO was applied in large-scale industrial project. In addition, all main equipment are home made, and more than 150 patents are applied, and corresponding down-stream plants have been built.
The Zhongtian Hechuang MTO plant is one of Sinopec’s major sic-tech development projects as an effort in respond to the country’s call for energy alternatives through means of transforming development mode, adjusting industry structure and achieving differentiated development.
The successful commissioning and loaded operation of the plant once again proves that S-MTO technology, of which Sinopec owns the exclusive intellectual property rights, is advanced and reliable, and that Sinopec has started the large-scale industrial application of the whole-set technology it independently researched and developed, which will provide a reliable technological support for achieving Sinopec’s resources diversification strategy and coal chemical industry development strategy.
It’s already known that China is endowed with abundant coal resources, therefore, coal to olefins (methanol to olefins) is an effective alternative to oil. MTO is a typical technology of new coal chemical industry. To produce olefins with non-oil materials is the clean and effective way of using coal resources, which is of significant importance for upgrading coal chemical industry chain and promoting the healthy and sustainable development of coal chemical industry.
