Sino-Saudi partnership lets contracts for Chinese ethylene complex

Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) and Fujian Energy and Petrochemical Group (FEPG) have let separate contracts for licensing of process technologies to be implemented at jointly owned SABIC Fujian Petrochemicals Co. Ltd.’s (SFPCL) grassroots olefins and derivatives complex now under construction at the Gulei Petrochemical Industrial Park (GPIP) in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, China (OGJ Online, Jan. 24, 2024).

As part of a contract awarded on Mar. 28, Lummus Technology LLC is delivering technology licensing and basic design engineering for the complex’s mixed-feed steam cracker, which will be equipped to produce up to 1.8 million tonnes/year (tpy) of ethylene and 1.02 million tpy of propylene, the service provider said.

Alongside supplying proprietary heater equipment and CDModules—or catalytic distillation (CD) structures that use an acidic ion exchange resin catalyst as part of the service provider’s patented CD process that combines reaction and fractionation in a single-unit operation—Lummus said its scope of work on the project also includes technology licensing and basic engineering for the complex’s 60,000-tpy butene-1 unit and production of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) products.

The late-March 2024 contract follows SFPCL’s award on Feb. 19 of a turnkey contract to CTCI Corp. subsidiary CTCI Beijing Co. Ltd. for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services on the complex’s 400,000-tpy bimodal high-density polyethylene (HDPE) unit, CTCI said in Mar. 13 release.

While the unit will be equipped with SABIC's own patented technology for production of high-end, environmentally friendly bimodal HDPE products, CTCI Beijing’s scope of delivery will include integration of CTCI's own green engineering technology to improve the unit’s energy efficiency as well as its handling of wastewater, waste gas, solid waste, and carbon emissions, the service provider said.

Approved for final investment decision (FID) by SABIC and FEPG in January 2024 at an overall estimated cost of $6.4 billion, the partners officially broke ground on construction activities for SFPCL’s complex on Feb. 19, SABIC confirmed in a release.

To be owned and operated by SFPCL—a joint venture of SABIC-FEPG subsidiaries SABIC Industrial Investment Co. (51%) and Fujian Fuhua Gulei Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (49%)—the proposed complex will be equipped nine of SABIC’s proprietary—but unidentified—technologies to produce high-end chemical and polymers products for application in the electronics, artificial intelligence, smartphones, telecommunications, healthcare, automobile, and advanced materials sectors.

In addition to supporting China's promotion of the Belt and Road initiative and Saudi Arabia's cooperative efforts to implement its own Vision 2030, the SFPCL project forms part of SABIC’s business expansion and development plans in China, as well as its goals of diversifying feedstock sources and establishing its manufacturing presence for a wide range of petrochemical products across the Asia Pacific, the operator said.

Construction of SFPCL’s complex is scheduled to be completed during second-half 2026, SABIC said in a Feb. 27 presentation to investors.