Sinopec’s ZRCC completes Ningbo integrated refinery and petrochemical expansion

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) subsidiary Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. Ltd. has completed a second-phase expansion and advanced materials project to respectively increase crude oil processing capacity and production of high-value specialty chemicals at its integrated refining and petrochemical complex at the Zhejiang Ningbo Petrochemical Industrial Base (ZNPIB) in the Yangtze River Delta at Ningbo City in eastern China's Zhejiang province (OGJ Online, Oct. 11, 2023).

Completed on Dec. 19 and operational as of Dec. 25, the nearly $5.7-billion Phase 2 expansion collectively has lifted ZRCC’s crude processing capacity at the refinery by 17 million tonnes/year (tpy) to 40 million tpy, as well as added 8 million tpy in fresh production capacity to support development of high-end polyolefins, advanced materials, and specialty chemicals for automotive, home appliances, and textiles industries in the Yangtze River Delta region, Sinopec and the Zhejiang provincial government said in separate releases.

Alongside incorporating 18 new production installations that include atmospheric distillation, catalytic cracking, polypropylene, and propane dehydrogenation units, Sinopec said the completed expansion also incorporates advanced smart technology and sustainability features at the complex such as:

• Extensive deployment of smart technologies to enable simultaneous delivery of digital and physical operational data.
• Integration of a fully localized industrial operating system and a self-developed industrial internet platform to enhance decision-making and management.
• Localization of 10 core but yet-to-be-identified technologies, including the highest-load vertical labyrinth compressor now operating globally.

In addition to achieving 90 million consecutive safe man-hours during construction and a 100%-pass rate for all units during the commissioning phase to set a new industry benchmark, implementation of comprehensive energy-saving measures as part of the Phase 2 expansion have resulted in an overall 11.7% reduction in energy consumption at the site, the operator said.

With elements of the expansion now online, Sinopec said it expects ZRCC’s operations will be able to generate trillions of yuan in both upstream and downstream industrial value, with the completed works at the site helping to cement ZNPIB as China’s largest, most advanced, and globally competitive petrochemical base.

Confirmation of the Phase 2 project completion follows ZRCC’s late-2023 start of construction on an associated ethylene and downstream high-end new materials industry cluster project that aims to expand the Ningbo complex’s existing 2.2-million tpy ethylene capacity by an additional 1.5 million tpy, the operator said in a Nov. 24, 2023 release.