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UOP reforming and aromatics technologies licensed for Hengyi Industries’ petrochemical complex in Brunei

| By Mary Bailey

Honeywell announced that Hengyi Industries will use advanced reforming and aromatics technologies from Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.) at its integrated petrochemical complex in Pulau Muara Besar, Brunei. The facility will process 200,000 barrels per day.

UOP will provide a range of technology licenses, engineering design, key equipment and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents, operator training, and technical services for start-up and continuing operations.

“The increased demand for paraxylene in Asia has led companies to invest in technologies for the conversion of crude oil to petrochemicals on a larger scale,” said Bryan Glover, vice president and general manager of the UOP Process Technologies business. “Hengyi Industries selected UOP process technology to further expand its aromatics plant and meet the growing demand for paraxylene in the region.”                                                                                              

The Brunei complex will include an aromatics block consisting of CCR Platforming technology to convert naphtha into aromatics, a Light Desorbent Parex  aromatics complex to recover high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes using a more energy-efficient process. The LD Parex complex will produce up to 2.3 million tons of high-purity paraxylene, the primary component of many plastic resins, films and fibers.

The complex also will include a UOP naphtha hydrotreating unit, an Olefin Removal Process unit (ORP), Sulfolane technology for aromatics extraction, Isomar technology to convert xylene isomers into more valuable paraxylene, and Tatoray technology to convert toluene and heavier aromatics into mixed xylenes and high-purity benzene to more than double the yield of paraxylene from the naphtha feedstock. In addition, UOP is providing a second Sulfolane unit for the extraction of pygas, and a VGO Unicracking unit and Diesel Unicracking™ unit targeting maximum naphtha production.

When the project is completed, Hengyi Industries will have capacity to produce more 3.8 million tons per year of paraxylene.

Hengyi Industries, a subsidiary of Hengyi Petrochemical Ltd., is a joint petrochemical venture between China and Brunei. The company is a major global supplier of polyester resins and petrochemicals. Other technology providers to Hengyi’s Brunei site include Univation Technologies, LyondellBasell, Lummus Technology and DuPont Clean Technologies.