On September 8, Huanqiu Shanghai Co., Ltd. received a good news from Ningbo Juhua Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., congratulating the company for the 50,000-ton/year multiphase hydroformylation of ethylene and the whole process of its hydrogenation to n-propanol industrial plant The first start-up was successful, and the produced propionaldehyde and n-propanol products were qualified, and the performance parameters of the products reached or exceeded the design indicators, marking the world's first ethylene heterogeneous hydroformylation industrial production unit with a single atom catalyst was successfully put into operation.
N-Propanol is a chemical product with a wide range of uses. It is currently widely used in coatings, paints, adhesives, cosmetics, plastics, and fungicides, as well as food additives, feed additives, synthetic fragrances, detergents, and preservatives. And brake fluid and other important raw materials. In addition, n-propanol also has very important uses in the field of pharmaceutical intermediates, and is also used in the electrolyte of new energy vehicles.
China's n-propanol production capacity is about 138,000 tons, and the consumption of n-propanol in 2019 is as high as 195,000 tons, and the production capacity cannot meet the market demand. The successful commissioning of this device will greatly reverse the passive situation of China's n-propanol market.
The technology of ethylene hydroformylation and its hydrogenation to n-propanol was developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. For the first time, a carrier and ligand bifunctional polymer with high surface area, hierarchical pore structure and high thermal stability and its support were used The precious metal heterogeneous single-site catalyst solves the worldwide problem of the loss of precious metals and ligands during the heterogeneous catalysis of olefin hydroformylation that has been unsolvable for more than 70 years.
Huanqiu Shanghai Co., Ltd. undertook the research, development, preparation and engineering design of the process package for this project. The project uses ethylene hydroformylation to produce n-propanol, which is a heterogeneous oxo synthesis reaction. It is the first industrialized device in the world, and it is difficult to scale up to an engineered demonstration device. The project’s R&D team has concentrated its efforts to overcome difficulties, and has studied for several years with great concentration. It has carried out a large number of forward-looking optimizations and improvements in process flow, ancillary equipment selection, equipment design, and automation control. For example, the hydroformylation reaction belongs to With strong exothermic reaction, the R&D team combined simulation calculations and various scheme comparisons to develop a new type of adiabatic cold shock reactor that is different from hydroformylation. It uses low-temperature raw material inter-stage chilling to cool down. Through repeated simulation calculations, it is determined Reactor size, number of bed sections, catalyst volume, filling height and pressure drop of each section of the bed, etc., to achieve safe and efficient production; the "high pressure cryogenic method" is adopted to recover the raw gas ethylene contained in the purge gas, saving a lot of raw materials , It is also conducive to separation and saving of refrigeration and low-temperature materials, realizing rational use of energy and recycling of raw materials, reducing project costs and reducing "three wastes" emissions.
At the same time, the R&D team of Huanqiu Shanghai Branch made full use of rich on-site driving experience and skills to achieve a good start of operation of the device load reaching 70% within half an hour, successfully completing the project’s R&D and design services, and achieving another breakthrough in the chemical industry. The performance has once again proved the comprehensive strength of the Shanghai company in research and development, process package preparation, and engineering design.
Source: Chemical Network
