Zhejiang Satellite commissions new unit at Chinese complex

Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co. Ltd. has commissioned a new pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit from Honeywell UOP LLC to supply high-purity hydrogen to its integrated refining and petrochemicals complex in Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province, China.

Based on Honeywell UOP’s Polybed PSA technology—which uses proprietary UOP adsorbents to remove impurities at high pressure from hydrogen-containing process streams, allowing hydrogen to be recovered and upgraded to more than 99.9% purity to meet refining needs—the new PSA unit purifies hydrogen generated by an associated UOP C₃ Oleflex propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit also in use at the complex, the service provider said.

Alongside technology licensing, Honeywell UOP also provided services, equipment, catalysts, and adsorbents for the PSA unit.

Details regarding capacity of the unit, however, were not disclosed.

Zhejiang Satellite recently commissioned a second Honeywell UOP proprietary C₃ Oleflex unit as part of the second phase of its PDH plant at the complex (OGJ Online, Sept. 13, 2019).

Intended to help meet China’s growing demand for propylene, the UOP C₃ Oleflex plant produces 450,000 tonnes/year of polymer-grade propylene.

Under construction since 2016, Zhejiang Satellite’s Phase 2 PDH plant—alongside propylene—also was to be equipped to produce 300,000 tpy of polypropylene (OGJ Online, Sept. 29, 2017).

Phase 1 of the PDH plant began producing 450,000 tpy of propylene from propane in late 2014, also using C₃ Oleflex process technology.