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MOSCOW (MRC) -- CB&I was awarded a
contract by GS Caltex for the license, basic engineering and catalyst supply for
a new paraxylene (PX) unit to be built in Yeosu, Korea, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with
reference to officials' confirmation.
The unit will use the BP
paraxylene technology, exclusively licensed by CB&I, and will have a
world-scale design capacity. Start-up is expected in 2016.
The technology
employs an innovative energy-efficient crystallization process to produce
paraxylene and will provide GS Caltex with a reliable, low-cost solution for its
world-scale plant.
"The energy efficiency and operating cost benefits
afforded by this proven crystallization-based paraxylene technology are very
attractive to the industry as evidenced by this latest award," said Daniel
McCarthy, president of CB&I's technology operating group.
As MRC informed
previously, South Korea's paraxylene exports for January-March
2013 totalled 806,657 mt, surging 60.5% from a year earlier and up 41.4%
from the previous quarter. The sharp increase was due to the startup of a new
PX plant there. South Korea's HC Petrochem, a 50:50 joint venture between
Hyundai Oilbank and Japan's Cosmo Oil, started commercial operations at its new
800,000 tpa PX plant in Daesan on January 8. Most of the new output from the
plant is shipped to China. The plant is able to produce 400,000 tpa of
PX.
Paraxylene (PX) is the largest volume isomer of the mixed xylenes.
Around 98% of PX is consumed in the polyester chain, mainly in the production of
fibre, film and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle resins, via one of two
intermediates - purified terephthalic acid (PTA) or dimethyl terephthalate
(DMT). A small amount of PX is used as a solvent and to produce di-paraxylene
and herbicides. |
