Forethought: Anqing Taifa Energy's ADH under Smooth Construction

According to SCI, Anqing Taifa Energy Technology’s 350kt/a alkane dehydrogenation unit (ADH) is under smooth construction. The first phase of the 150kt/a butane dehydrogenation unit has completed the basic construction and is preparing for the online operation and complex connection tests in middle October.

The Phase I 150kt/a butane dehydrogenation unit construction is revamped on basis of the company’s old 100kt/a aromatization unit, and the Phase II of the 200kt/a PDH unit construction will be built soon at the west side of the Phase I soon. The whole project takes up over 835 million CNY, and the product of the Phase I, the rich-iso-butane C4, will be directly used as feedstock for the company’s 70kt/a MTBE unit.

Before, the company heavily depended on the mixed C4 resources from Sinopec Anqing Company for its MTBE & alkylation production chain, including which the alkylation unit used the C4 raffinate II from the MTBE unit as feedstock. However, the fundamentals is about to change. Sinopec Anqing Company is newly building a 100kt/a MTBE unit and a 300kt/a alkylation unit, in order to use the self-owned C4 resources to self-supply the component oils for Ron 95 gasoline blending for sake of the National Standard GB VI upgrade. As soon as Sinopec Anqing Company finishes those constructions, the local C4 deep-processing will face a serious situation of feedstock deficit, especially it is at a time when the demand for C4 resources far exceeds the supply nationwide at this stage.

Currently, China’s C4 resources are in a lack of supply, both for the domestically produced and the imported resources. However, the propane and butane resources are rich in the market. Therefore, the PDH and ADH unit will be the best choice for the gas deep-processing industry to optimize the feedstock source, and Anqing Taifa Energy’s one step ahead is now considered as a most sophisticated forethought for the future development.