Jiutai selects KBR for Ordos MTO recovery project
Jiutai Energy Group (Jiutai) selected KBR‘s technology for a methanol-to-olefins (MTO) recovery project in Ordos, in Inner Mongolia Province, China.
State owned company based in Luozhuang Industry Park of Linyi High-Tech Industry Development Zone in southern Shandong Province, eastern China, Jiutai was established in 2002 to lead the development of clean energy from coal as a substitute to the oil and gas as primary feedstock of the petrochemical industry.
Building up Dimethyl Ether (DME) capacity of 1.1 million t/y and 1.3 million t/y of methanol through the DME China Energy company, Jiutai has become the largest DME producer in the world wit its own technology.
To implement its national mandate to develop clean energy, Jiutai created companies in Zhangjiagang, in the Jiangsu Province, in Beijing, Guangzhou, Guangdong, and in Ordos, in Inner Mongolia.
Jiutai is planning to build a methanol-To-Olefin plant in Dalu New Area, Zhungeer Banner of Ordos.
In a first phase the process convert 1.8 million t/y methanol into Olefin eflluents
In a second phase, these effluents go through KBR MTO Recovery process to be separated into polymer grades of ethylene and propylene.
The KBR MTO recovery unit should have a capacity of 600,000 t/y ethylene and propylene.
In September 2012, Jiutai signed a contract for its Ordos project to buy the UOP/Hydro MTO license developed jointly between UOP and Ineos covering the first phase of the process.
The licensed UOP/Hydro process is to convert coal-based methanol into ethylene and propylene with high yields and minimal by-products.
Honeywell UOP will also provide Jiutai MTO project with:
- Basic engineering
- Catalysts
- Adsorbents
- Specialist equipment
- Technical services
With the combination of the UOP-Ineos technology and KBR License, Jiutai energy is planning to complete its methanol-to-Olefin (MTO) project in Ordos in 2014.
KBR wins MTO recovery package for Yulin olefin
In addition to the Ordos Jiutai MTO Recovery, KBR’s technologies was selected for a similar project in Yulin, in northern Shaanxi Province, China.
Located only 150 kilometers south of Ordos, Yulin is also sitting on abundant coal reserves at the source of several coal-to-methanol(CTM) or coal-to-Olefins (CTO) projects.
China having the world largest coal resources, there are actually 30 of these projects nationwide at different stages.
These projects may be still at feasibility study or waiting for the approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as they may in near completion construction.
Here the methanol-to-Olefin (MTO) recovery package awarded to KBR belongs to an existing coal-to-Olefin (CTO) facility.
Completed in 2011, this Yulin CTO plant is the first and fully integrated unit to produce Olefin polymers, polyethylene and polypropylene in using coal as feedstock.
The whole process integrates all the critical phases:
- Coal gasification into methanol
-Olefins polymerization
To improve the performance of this process, KBR will supply its MTO recovery license.
With the license, the Yulin MTO package includes also the design based on KBR’s Fluidized Catalytic Cracking process.
With a capacity of 600,000 t/y of ethylene and propylene, this Yulin MTO recovery project should be completed and run into commercial operations by 2014.
Even though the global consumption may slow down, China is still building up capacity for the production of the most critical building blocks of its petrochemical industry based on the most available resource, coal, and toward its domestic market ready to catch up any opportunity of economical recovery at the benefit of the western technology of companies such as KBR, Honeywell UOP, or Ineos.
