Technology Introduction:

There are two main routes for Ethylene Glycol (/MEG) production: one is the Olefin/EO(Ethylene Oxide) Route starting from either naphtha, ethane or methanol, the licensors include Shell, SD, UCC and etc. and the other is the DMO(dimethyl oxalate) Route newly emerged in China these years, starting from syngas. Depending upon the difference operation pressure, this DMO Route is further divided into Normal Pressure Process and Medium-High Pressure Process.

SL TECH offers the most advanced and the most competitive Medium-High Pressure DMO Process for MEG production. Its production cost is much lower than that of Olefin/EO Process at the current low oil price (i.e., USD 67/ BBT), not to mention the Normal Pressure DMO Route.

Technical Features:

the MEG plant provided by SL TEC has advantages as follows:

1. the pressure of the carbonylation unit is increased to 2.0-3.0MPa, about 5-7 times the conventional process, thereby the diameter of main equipment and pipes are reduced by 2-2.5 times.

2. the carbonylation reactor is changed from tubular type to plate type, whose heat transfer effect is increased by one time, the catalyst loading coefficient increased by over 60%, the STY (Space-to-Time Yield) more than doubled, which allows the large scale of each production line.

3. the catalyst has better selectivity, higher conversion yield and longer service time ( over 2 years)

4. the CAPEX of the carbonylation unit is reduced by 50%, while the investment of the carbonylation unit takes 40% of the total investment.

Performance:

1. Product Specification

S/N	Item	Quality Specification
1	Visual apprearance	Clear and colorless liquid, mechanical impurities free
2	MEG, wt%	99.8
3	Color (Pt/Co)  Before heating  after heating with HCl	5     20
4	Specific gravity @ 20oC, g/cm3	1.1128-1.1138
5	Water, wt%	0.1
6	Boiling Range (at 0oC, 0.10133MPa)  IBP  FBP	196     199
7	Acidity as Acetic Acid, wt%	0.001
8	Aldehyde as formaldehyde, wt%	0.0008
9	Iron as Fe2+, ppm wt	0.07
10	Ash, wt%	0.001
11	UV transmission, %  220nm  275nm  350nm	75  92  99

 

2. Specific Consumption

S/N	Item	Consumption Rate
1	CO, Nm3/ mt of EG	780
2	H2, Nm3/ mt of EG	1580
3	O2, Nm3/ mt of EG	186
4	Methanol, kg/mt of EG	20
5	Liquid Ammonia, kg/mt of EG	2
6	Steam, mt/ mt of EG	3.6-4.3
7	Electricity, KWH/mt of EG	240
8	Circulating water (delta=10oC), mt/mt of EG	380
9	Water, mt/mt of EG	5