First Anniversary of PetroChina Guangdong Petrochemical Company | Credit: CNPC Facebook Page (5 July 2024)
Facilities and Capacities
The complex occupies approximately 920-953 hectares and comprises an integrated refining and petrochemical facility with the following major capacities:
Refining Operations:
- 20 million tonnes per year (Mt/y) crude oil processing capacity (approximately 400,000 barrels per day)
- 300,000-tonne crude oil terminal
- Product terminal with berths ranging from 5,000 to 100,000 tonnes
Petrochemical Production:
- 1.2 Mt/y ethylene plant (largest scale ethylene facility in China at startup)
- 2.6 Mt/y aromatics production, including para-xylene (p-xylene)
- 800,000 tonnes per year (t/y) styrene unit (world's largest single-train styrene plant)
The complex also includes supporting infrastructure such as long-distance pipelines, crude oil transshipment depots, railway facilities, and sewage treatment systems.
Technology Licensors
The complex utilizes advanced processing technologies from multiple international licensors:
Aromatics Complex:
Honeywell UOP provided technology for the 2.6 Mt/y aromatics complex, which is the world's largest single-train paraxylene unit. The aromatics block includes UOP's Sulfolane™, Isomar™, Tatoray™, and Parex™ (Light Desorbent version) processes, along with an Olefin Removal Process unit. Honeywell UOP also supplied heavy oil processing technology for the refinery.
Polypropylene:
W.R. Grace & Co. licensed its UNIPOL® PP Process Technology for a 500,000 t/y polypropylene unit, which became the largest single-line UNIPOL unit in China. The unit produces homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact copolymer resins using Grace's 6th generation non-phthalate CONSISTA® catalysts.
Refining Units:
LPEC (Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering Corporation) of Sinopec provided engineering design for several refining units, including a 3.6 Mt/y catalytic cracking unit, 4.2 Mt/y wax oil hydrotreating unit, 600,000 t/y alkylation unit, and 1.1 Mt/y additional processing capacity.
Construction and Commissioning Timeline
- 2011: Environmental approval obtained for the joint venture project
- 2012: Initial construction kickoff announced
- 2018: Actual construction commenced after delays
- October 2022: Trial testing began
- February 2023: First oil products delivered to market
- February 27, 2023: Full-line commissioning achieved with all product qualities meeting standards, marking successful startup and entry into full production
By November 2024, the ethylene plant had exceeded 1.2 million tonnes of annual production, with cumulative ethylene production surpassing 2.2 million tonnes since startup.
