Recently the pilot moving-bed unit for manufacturing aromatics from methanol and toluene with co-production of low-carbon olef ins designed by the Sinopec Engineering Incorporation (SEC) has been put on stream successfully. In the course of commissioning, the pilot unit ran smoothly, leading to high conversion rate in the moving-bed reactor, high yield of xylene product, easy lift of catalyst, and good coke burnout results, with all indicators complying with the expected operating requirements.

The said project is a ten thousand tons/year commercial test unit jointly developed by the Yanchang Petroleum Group, SEC, and the CAS Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), which adopts the first in the world the process technology for manufacture of xylene from toluene and methanol with co-production of low-carbon olef ins. It is told that this technology can make the reactor and the regenerator operate under low pressure drop coupled with highly homogeneous distribution of gas stream to ensure much higher conversion of methanol and toluene into aromatics and higher selectivity of the target product xylene. In the meantime, the maintenance and repair of equipment become more convenient along with obvious effects in terms of coke prevention and reduction of catalyst attrition.

Furthermore, the said project has developed a special regeneration control system, which not only can bridge the technical gap between China and foreign countries to tackle the tough problem associated with domestic fabrication of the system for control over continuous regeneration of the moving-bed reactor catalyst, but also can provide an effective guarantee for the commercialization of related process units.