Sinopec Zhongke Zhanjiang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of China's state-controlled petrochemical giant Sinopec, fed its new steam cracker with feedstock naphtha and LPG today following a delay of more than a month.
The company expects the cracker in south China's Guangdong province to produce on-specification ethylene and propylene in a couple of days.
The cracker has a nameplate capacity of 800,000 t/yr for ethylene and 400,000 t/yr for propylene, and runs on 62.5pc of naphtha and 37.5pc of LPG. The naphtha and LPG are from Sinopec's new 200,000 b/d Zhanjiang refinery.
The cracker has fully integrated downstream units, including a 350,000 t/yr high-density polyethylene plant, a 250,000/400,000 t/yr ethylene oxide line, a 100,000 t/yr ethylene vinyl acetate plant and a 200,000 t/yr polypropylene line. The former two plants completed test runs successfully in late August.
