Sinopec refineries add fresh alkylation capacity

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) has commissioned new alkylation units at two of its subsidiaries’ refineries in China.

E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.’s DuPont Clean Technologies has completed startup of its proprietary STRATCO alkylation units recently installed at Zhongke (Guangdong) Refining & Petrochemical Co. Ltd.’s (ZGRPC) 10-million tonnes/year (tpy) integrated complex on Donghai Island, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd.’s (SPC) 14-million tpy refining and petrochemical complex in Jinshan District, Shanghai, DuPont said on June 15.

Designed to enable the two refineries to produce low-sulfur, high-octane, low-rvp alkylate that helps improve quality of their gasoline production to comply with China VI (equivalent to Euro 6) emission standards, the ZGRPC and SPC alkylation units—which process methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) raffinate feedstock—have alkylate production capacities of 9,240 b/sd 10,240 b/sd, respectively, DuPont said.

Now in operation, the two units bring the total number of STRATCO alkylation units commissioned at Sinopec refineries to six, with a final seventh unit scheduled for startup later this year, according to the service provider (OGJ Online, Apr. 21, 2021).

SPC’s new unit—which marks the second commercialization of a DuPont’s Model 74 Contactor reactor line developed to reduce the number of reactors required for an alkylation unit—officially entered operation and began producing alkylate product on Aug. 30, 2020, SPC said in a September 2020 release.

In an Oct. 22, 2020, release, DuPont confirmed startup of the first Model 74 Contactor reactor in a STRATCO alkylation unit at Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corp.’s refinery at Zibo, in China’s eastern province of Shandong (OGJ Online, Aug. 25, 2017).