- Sinopec Corp completed a successful trial processing crude oil directly into olefin.
- Olefin is the building block for making petrochemicals such as plastics and synthetic fibre.
- Sinopec will follow up with building a one million tonne per year crude-to-olefin plant.
Sinopec Corp of China announced on Wednesday that it had completed a successful trial of processing crude oil directly into olefin, making it one of the few corporations in the world to have done it on a large scale as reported by US News.
When compared to the traditional way of refining crude into intermediate fuels, which are then further processed into olefin, the manufacturing process saves greatly on production costs and carbon dioxide emissions, Sinopec claimed.
Sinopec’s experiment
Olefin, primarily ethylene and propylene, is a crucial component in the production of petrochemicals such as plastics and synthetic fibre.
Following the experiment at a Sinopec subsidiary plant in Tianjin, the refiner plans to develop a one million tonne per year crude-to-olefin plant, according to the company.
China, the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases, plans to limit its primary crude oil refining capacity to one billion tonnes per year (20 million barrels per day) by 2025, as part of a national objective to reach a carbon emission peak by 2030.
However, petrochemicals such as plastics and synthetic fibres are still in short supply.
ExxonMobil is another company with comparable technology, according to Sinopec.
According to industry experts, the US oil and gas major announced last week that it had reached a final investment decision to build a multi-billion dollar petrochemical complex in south China, which will use a similar production technique.
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Source: US News
