Novel Methanol-to-Propylene Technology Passed the SINOPEC’s Review

On July 7, 2014 the project covering the enlarged-scale pilot test and commercial sideline test of the MTP catalyst and PDP of the 1.8 Mt/a SMTP packaged technology, jointly undertaken by the SINOPEC’s Shanghai Petrochemical Research Institute and its cooperative institutions, had passed the review organized by the SINOPEC Science and Technology Division.

The research team has completed the reaction of methanol for producing DME and preparation of MTP catalyst in pilot scale and enlarged scale, studied and developed the secondary MTP reaction involving DME, the multistage adiabatic thin-layered fixed-bed MTP reactor, the process for temperature control over the staged shock-chilled gas and liquid phases, recycling of byproducts, recovery of wastewater and raw methanol, analysis of all components and trace oxygenates, and other key techniques. The research team has also worked out the whole set of PDP for the 5 kt/a packaged commercial sideline MTP unit after construction of the commercial sideline test unit. The study on the sideline unit has revealed that the commercial sideline MTP process is viable, and the operation of process unit is safe and smooth, while the catalyst can be regenerated repeatedly with the catalytic performance of regenerated catalyst retained.

The 1.8 Mt/a SMTP process design package was developed on the basis of the successful commercial sideline test results. This technology has an innovative nature with independent intellectual property rights. 40 Chinese invention patents have been filed, among which 23 patents were granted to form a patent protection network covering the catalyst, the process, the reactor and other key pieces of equipment.