Existing Aromatics Production Technology

Aromatic hydrocarbons are one of the most basic raw materials in the organic chemical industry, mainly from petroleum and coal tar.Benzene, toluene and xylene in aromatic hydrocarbons are important basic raw materials for petrochemical industry.The market consumption is second only to ethylene and propylene.Its production technology level represents the development level of a country's oil industry.In recent years, my country's aromatics industry has developed rapidly. In 2019, the total production capacity of aromatics reached 58 million t/a, and the demand was 53 million t/a, accounting for 31.9% and 40.5% of the global total respectively.At the same time, our country is also the world's largest demander of p-xylene (PX).With the rapid development of the domestic polyester industry, the investment in its upstream raw material PX device is driven, and the PX production capacity will enter the peak of production in 2019.The new production capacity was 10.75 million t/a, a year-on-year increase of 77.5%, and the output increased by about 40%, setting a record high since the industrialization of domestic PX.By the end of 2019, the total domestic PX production capacity was 24.62 million t/a, and the output was 14.21 million t/a.The apparent consumption is 29.18 million t/a, and the self-sufficiency rate reaches 50.1%.Based on the current situation of insufficient PX production capacity and high external dependence in my country, it is very necessary to lay out and construct aromatics production facilities.

Aromatics mostly are used naphtha as raw material.The aromatics complex is used for production, the products of which are mainly benzene, toluene and xylene.Aromatics products come from catalytic reforming oil, hydrocracked gasoline by product of steam cracking and C6~C8 aromatics in coking crude benzene.In order to solve the shortage of naphtha supply, expanding the source of raw materials for aromatics production and making full use of integrated refining and chemical resources.The production of aromatics can be increased by using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), light olefins, reforming raffinate and other raw materials through light hydrocarbon aromatization technology;It can also use heavier resources such as heavy pyrolysis gasoline and heavy aromatics in catalytic cracking light cycle oil to increase the production of aromatics through lightening, hydrocracking and other reactions.. At the same time, combined with the energy reserve characteristics of "poor oil and rich coal" in my country, the partial replacement of petroleum resources through the technology of producing aromatics from coal through methanol has also become an important way to increase the production of aromatics in my country.The current typical aromatics production technologies at home and abroad include: catalytic reforming, pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation, light hydrocarbon aromatization, toluene/benzene disproportionation and transalkylation, xylene isomerization, coal (methanol) to aromatics, etc.