News Information

On May 25th, the B line of the esterification method cyclohexanone unit of the 600,000-ton caprolactam industrial chain relocation and upgrading transformation and development project of Sinopec Hunan Petrochemical Company was successfully started up in one go, and it can stably supply 20 tons of high-quality raw material cyclohexanone to downstream units every hour. So far, all 17 new main production units of this project have been successfully started up at one go, marking the full commissioning of the world's largest single-unit capacity and technologically leading caprolactam production and research and development base. This is the first industrial application of Sinopec's new-generation green complete set of new technologies for caprolactam with independent intellectual property rights.

This project will relocate the entire caprolactam industrial chain of Hunan Petrochemical to the Green Chemical Industry High-tech Zone of Yueyang, Hunan Province, which is 3.1 kilometers away from the Yangtze River. It will build 17 main production facilities including coal gasification, caprolactam, polyamide, synthetic ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and cyclohexanone, as well as auxiliary facilities such as public utilities and power stations, covering the entire industrial chain from coal-to-hydrogen to polyamide. The annual production capacity of caprolactam has been raised from 300,000 tons to 600,000 tons. The wastewater discharged per unit product, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), and comprehensive energy consumption can be reduced by 73%, 67%, and 20% respectively. The project is constructed in accordance with the "5G Smart Factory" standard, with a domestic production rate of 99.9% for equipment and the entire central control system being domestically produced.

This project is constructed using a green and complete set of new technologies for caprolactam that have won awards such as the China Industry Award and the First Prize of National Technological Invention. Among them, the esterification and hydrogenation to produce cyclohexanone and the slpulp bed anthraquinone method for hydrogen peroxide production are the "Ten Dragons" scientific and technological research projects of Sinopec. The esterification and hydrogenation to produce cyclohexanone unit is the world's first industrialized unit. It has the advantages of high carbon yield, low "three wastes" emissions, and clean and efficient operation. The technology of preparing hydrogen peroxide by slate-bed anthraquinone and the technology of preparing cyclohexanone oxime by cyclohexanone oxime were successfully scaled up and applied for the first time, effectively enhancing the safety factor of the new hydrogen peroxide technology. The coal gasification unit is the first set of equipment of Sinopec to adopt the third-generation domestic water-coal slurry water-cooled wall gasification process technology.

In November 2018, Hunan Province and Sinopec, as well as Yueyang City and Hunan Petrochemical, signed a cooperation framework agreement on the relocation and upgrading transformation and development of the caprolactam industrial chain. In June 2021, the civil construction of this project began. The first batch of facilities was handed over in March 2023, the first production facility was started up in August of the same year, and the project was fully connected in December.

Up to now, the caprolactam, polyamide, hydrogen peroxide and other facilities in the caprolactam New District of Hunan Petrochemical have all achieved full-load production on both lines, with a daily output of over 10,000 tons of more than 20 kinds of products including caprolactam, polyamide chips, hydrogen peroxide, cyclohexanone, refined ethanol, ammonium sulfate, fuming sulfuric acid, liquid ammonia and hydrogen. Among them, the daily output of caprolactam and polyamide chips is over 1,800 tons and over 430 tons respectively.