China's Ningxia Baota Chemical Fiber Co. will use Honeywell UOP's latest generation technologies and equipment to build an energy-efficient petrochemical complex, officials announced on Tuesday. 

The Chinese complex in Yinchuan City, Ningxia, will produce valuable petrochemicals as well as high-quality gasoline, and is expected to come online in 2018.

The new complex will be the first in China to use Honeywell UOP's energy-efficient aromatics complex design to convert heavy naphtha, a product of the oil refining process, into 800,000 tpy of high-purity para-xylene. Para-xylene is the primary component for making synthetic fibers, packaging and plastics, and it is in high demand in Asia. 

The plant will also produce 520,000 tpy of high-quality gasoline and 200,000 tpy of benzene.

"Nowhere in the world is para-xylene demand growing as fast as it is in Asia," said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP's process technology and equipment business. 

"UOP's next-generation aromatics technology combines the latest catalysts and adsorbents with an energy-efficient design to reduce energy consumption by as much as 20%, helping achieve the lowest cost of operation for para-xylene producers in the industry," he added. "With UOP technology, Ningxia Baota can become a more competitive player in the Asian para-xylene market, which accounts for 83% of the global para-xylene demand."

In addition to licensing, UOP will provide the basic engineering, commissioning services, training services, proprietary equipment, catalysts and adsorbents for the new complex.

UOP technologies licensed for the complex include:

• The Naphtha Hydrotreating process to pre-treat reforming feed.
• The CCR Platforming process to convert low-quality naphtha to high-octane blending components for gasoline and a feed for aromatics production.         
• The Extractive Distillation (ED) Sulfolane process to recover high-purity benzene and toluene. 
• The Tatoray process to increase production of benzene and xylenes.
• The Parex process to recover para-xylene from mixed xylenes.
• The Isomar process to convert mixed xylenes or naphtha reformate into more valuable high-purity para-xylene.
• The Par-Isom process to upgrade light naphtha into high-value isomerate for gasoline blending.