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Introduction
With an expected annual demand growth rate of 6% to 8% for the next decade,
paraxylene (PX) is a healthy market. Recent overcapacity situation, combined with
Asian economic turmoil has severely impacted the PX industry profitability and
recovery is likely to relieve pressure on producers later than sooner. According to
multiclient reports, PX demand should catch with existing or scheduled capacity by
the year 2004, and new prospects for grassroots projects emerge. Future PX
producers seek solutions to maximize their investment return, and maintain
profitability during the low side of the intermediates market cycle.
This paper outlines how Axens ParamaXTM portfolio of technologies for aromatics
production can increase plant competitiveness through various angles, such as
lowering initial investment and operating costs, stream factor enhancement, and
overall plant selectivity.
ParamaX - The BTX Aromatics Technology Suite
The processes incorporated in this portfolio provide customers with a complete suite
of advanced technologies. Together, they make an attractive first choice when
selecting the full set of BTX technologies and services from a single source. The
technologies exclusively licensed by Axens in grassroots ParamaX packages are:
Aromizing - high severity CCR reforming for aromatics production,
Arofining - reformate olefins saturation for drastically reduced clay
consumption,
Sulfolane (Lyondell) - high purity benzene, toluene and xylenes extraction,
Morphylane (Uhde) - toluene and high purity benzene extraction,
Eluxyl - simulated countercurrent adsorption PX separation,
Crystallization - production of ultra-high purity PX when combined with
Eluxyl in the hybrid version,
Oparis - new generation xylenes and ethylbenzene (EB) isomerization,
XyMaxSM (ExxonMobil) - xylenes isomerization with EB dealkylation, using
the newly commercialized EM-4500 catalyst with improved activity and
selectivity,
PxMaxSM (ExxonMobil) - state-of-the-art Selective Toluene DisProportionation
(STDP) technology for the production of a highly PX-enriched xylene stream
and benzene,
TransPlusSM (ExxonMobil) - toluene/C9+C10 aromatics transalkylation, with
the proven ability to process high amounts of C9 and C10 aromatics,
MTDP-3 (ExxonMobil) - toluene disproportionation to benzene and xylenes.
Raffinate
Benzene
H2
Naphtha
Hydrotreater
C7-
Toluene
Extraction:
- Morphylane
- Sulfolane
Tol-A9-A10
Transalkylation
TransPlus
Aromizing
& Arofining
Paraxylene
C8+
PX
Separation
Eluxyl
Naphtha
C8
C8A Isom.
- Oparis
C8+
- XyMax
C9+C10
C9+
Heavy
Aromatics
recycled to the xylenes rerun and Eluxyl. The selection of isomerization technology
is a function of the desired BTX production pattern and economical concerns.
The xylenes rerun bottoms are sent to a heavy aromatics splitter where C9 and C10
aromatics are taken overhead as feed to the TransPlus.
Regenerator
Reactors
and Heaters
H2 rich gas
Booster
Compressor
Recovery
System
Feed
Recycle
Compressor
To
Stabilization
Eluxyl technology allows benefiting from economy of scale but is also intrinsically
lower in investment since the number of single source proprietary items is reduced.
Each complex building block proposed by Axens offers longer catalyst life or cycle,
resulting in shorter turnaround inspection or maintenance periods. They also offer
higher selectivity towards valuable final products.
80
75
Xylene Yields
on
Fresh Feed,
wt%
/ C 10
/C 9
ene
u
l
To
70
d
Fee
65
C9 F
ene/
Tolu
60
eed
55
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Conclusion
Axens ParamaX contains a complete set of technologies available from a single
source licensor which can be configured to meet all BTX production needs, with
reduced investment and operating costs, enhanced product yields that will be
maintained all through the cycle or life of the catalysts. The ParamaX Alliance
partners are committed to servicing the industry with continuously upgraded
technologies. Since the advent of the ParamaX Alliance, five major technology
advances have been integrated into the portfolio: Morphylane extractive distillation,
AR 501 CCR catalyst, XyMax technology, Oparis and PxMax.