First Industrial Calibration of C4Alkynes Hydrogenation Technology Accomplished

The first industrial calibration test of C4alkynes hydrogenation technology for recovery of butylenes developed by the PetroChina Petrochemical Research Institute has been accomplished in the 20 kt/a unit for recovering butylenes via C4alkynes hydrogenation at the Fushun Tongyi Petrochemical Company. The calibration results have shown that this technology by means of hydrotreating C4alkynes can reduce the total content of alkynes and diolefins from 25.13% to less than 0.16%, increase the monoolefins content from 59.05% to over 82.65%, with the alkanes content increased merely to 1.51%. This technology not only can eliminate the safety hazards resulted from alkyne emissions, but also can recover a remarkable amount of butadiene, butylenes and butane. According to a preliminary estimation, the newly constructed 20 kt/a unit for alkynes hydrogenation can bring about an incremental economic benefit of more than 50 million RMB.

The concept of research on recovery of butadiene, butylenes and butane has laid out three routes for product recovery to form a series of technologies for hydrogenation and utilization of C4alkynes. The butadiene recovery route adopts the selective hydrogenation for converting C4alkynes to butadiene which can be used to manufacture synthetic rubber with high economic benefits. The butylenes recovery route adopts the selective hydrogenation for converting C4alkynes and diolefins to butylenes which can be used in etherification of C4fraction or alkylation of C4hydrocarbons to manufacture high-octane gasoline. The butane recovery route adopts the hydrotreating technology to convert C4alkynes, diolefins and monoolefins to butane, which can be used as the steam cracker feed.