Kickoff! Construction of New 800,000 Tons/Year Ethylene Project

On September 20, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a concentrated opening and completion ceremony for major projects in the region will be held in Urumqi. As one of the major projects, the integrated refining and chemical project of China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) will commence in Kuqa, Xinjiang.

On April 15, the full text of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report and the public participation statement for the integrated refining and chemical project of Sinopec Tower River Refining and Chemical Co., Ltd. were announced.

Project Name: China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Tower River Refining and Chemical Integration Project

Construction nature: renovation and expansion

Construction site: Chemical Industry Concentration Zone, Kuqa Economic and Technological Development Zone, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang

Construction content and scale: Expand the existing refining capacity of Tahe Refining from 5 million tons per year to 8.5 million tons per year, and construct new production units for 800,000 tons per year of ethylene and 800,000 tons per year of aromatics.

Proposed construction at the old refinery area 3#50010,000 tons/year atmospheric distillation unit, 3#22010,000 tons/year delayed coking unit, 2.4 million tons/year hydrocracking unit, 100,000 standard cubic meters/hour PSA unit, 4.#260,000 tons/year sulfur recovery unit, 2#10010,000 tons/year aviation kerosene hydrogenation unit, 2×2 million tons/year circulating fluidized bed vacuum residue hydrogenation units, 1.#8Wan Biao Li/Time Hydrogen Production Device.

A proposed construction in the Xinhua Chemical Plant area includes an 800,000 tons/year ethylene unit, a 450,000 tons/year naphtha cracking hydrogenation unit, a 100,000 tons/year butadiene extraction unit, a 100,000/30,000 tons/year MTBE/1-butene unit.#4010,000 tons/year polyethylene plant, 2#4010,000 tons/year polyethylene plant, 400,000 tons/year polypropylene plant, 800,000 tons/year aromatics joint plant, 2#150Ten thousand tons/year continuous reforming unit.

Public works, auxiliary facilities, storage and transportation projects, environmental protection facilities, and external works that are concurrently renovated or newly constructed.

Annual operating time: The refining section, continuous reforming and aromatics combined unit is 8400 hours, and the chemical section is 8000 hours.

Construction Unit: Sinopec Tahhe Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd.

Estimated commissioning date: The refinery and aromatics complex is expected to be commissioned in June 2028, and the ethylene plant is expected to be commissioned in October 2029.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Tower River Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. is located in Kuqa City, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang. It is the only refining and chemical enterprise of Sinopec in Xinjiang, jointly established by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and Kuqa Asset Management Co., Ltd.

Tahe Refining Company currently operates 16 production units, including atmospheric and vacuum distillation, delayed coking, natural gas hydrogen production, gasoline and diesel blending hydrogenation, continuous reforming and hydroisomerization, aviation kerosene hydrogenation, among others. The primary processing capacity is 5 million tons per year for atmospheric distillation and 500,000 tons per year for vacuum distillation. The company processes high-sulfur Tahe heavy crude oil to produce products such as gasoline, diesel, petroleum asphalt, mixed xylene/reformate, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum coke, and sulfur.