First Successful Commercial Application of Sulfuric Acid Alkylation Process Developed by SINOPEC’s RIPP

Recently the sulfuric acid alkylation process, jointly developed by the SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) and the SINOPEC Shijiazhuang Refining and Chemical Branch Company,has been delivering qualified product from the 200 kt/a alkylation unit since its successful startup on June 18,2018, which has symbolized a major achievement in the area of commercial dissemination and application of China’s sulfuric acid alkylation process with independent intellectual property rights.

RIPP has taken the lead in developing the sulfuric acid alkylation technology (SINOALKY) in collaboration with the SINOPEC Shijiazhuang Refining and Chemical Branch Company (SRCBC), Luoyang Engineering Company, the SINOPEC Qingdao Safety Engineering Institute (SSEI), and the East China University of Science and Technology. The said sulfuric acid alkylation process adopts a novel high-efficiency technology for carrying out the reaction and separation of sulfuric acid/hydrocarbons mixture, featuring low investment cost, low acid consumption, high product quality, and ease in equipment maintenance.

The project proposal on “Study of new process for alkylation with liquid acid” was submitted in 2009,resulting in the completion of laboratory-scale study on sulfuric acid alkylation technology. In 2012 the project proposal on “Engineering study of sulfuric acid alkylation technology” was submitted, leading to the construction of a 80 t/a pilot unit for sulfuric acid alkylation at SRCBC, followed by the completion of the pilot-scale study of alkylation process and development of the process design package (PDP) in March 2015, which had passed the technical appraisal organized by the SINOPEC Science and Technology Division. In 2016 the project “Development and commercial-scale test of 200 kt/a sulfuric acid alkylation technology” had been envisaged in SINOPEC’s “Ten key task projects in scientific and technological research”, resulting in the commencement of construction of a commercial demonstration unit at SRCBC in February 2017, which had been handed over to the production personnel in May 2018 followed by successful startup coupled with delivery of qualified product at 21 pm on June 18, 2018.