On December 23, Levima New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Levima Technology) issued an announcement stating that the company's first listed fundraising project - comprehensive utilization of 100,000 tons/year by-product carbon 4 & carbon 5 and supporting technical transformation of olefin separation system (hereinafter referred to as the "OCC project), has been successfully put into production and the technical and economic indicator calibration has been completed. Levima Technology's OCC project started construction on August 13, 2019, and was completed on August 31, 2020. A trial run was successful On October 15, 2020 and qualified ethylene and propylene products were produced. At present, it has realized continuous and stable operation.

C4 &C5 are common by-products of catalytic cracking units, which are less economical and often used for fuel. How to further use C4 & C5 to produce high value-added products and improve the overall economy of the plant is a problem that methanol-to-olefin companies have been seeking to solve. According to the market information of Zhuo Chuang Information, on December 23, 2020, the market price of C4 is about 3900 yuan/ton, and C5 about 4900 yuan/ton, while the market price of ethylene is about 8,200 yuan/ton, and propylene about 7,950 yuan/ton. The conversion of by-products such as C4 & C5 into ethylene and propylene has high economic value.

The project adopts the first domestic second-generation OCC technology jointly developed by Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Research Institute and Levima. Compared with the first generation OCC technology, the second generation technology has stronger adaptability to raw materials, higher ethylene propylene yield and better economy.

The announcement shows that after Levima Technology’s OCC project is put into operation, the conversion of C4 & C5 (by-products from DMTO (methanol to olefin) plant) to ethylene and propylene can greatly reduce the unit consumption of main raw material methanol. Ethylene and propylene can also be further processed to produce high-performance ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, polypropylene special materials, functional ethylene oxide derivatives and other high value-added new material products. In 2019, the methanol consumption of Levima Technology was 1.35 million tons. After the OCC project is put into operation, the methanol unit consumption is expected to drop by about 10%, which will greatly reduce the company's production costs and have significant economic benefits.

Text/China Industry News