Qingdao Lidong Chemical Co., Ltd.: leading reformed gas recovery in China to promote emission reduction and increase profit

Company Profile
Qingdao Lidong Chemical Co., Ltd. (GSA) is the biggest foreign initial capital investment joint venture in manufacturing industry in Shandong province with the total investment of USD 594 million, in which Korea GS Group, Oman Oil and Qingdao Red Star Chemical Co., Ltd. accounted for 62%, 30% and 8% respectively. The company was established in December, 2003 and went into operation in 2006 with annual production of more than 1.1 million tons of chemical products and annual sales of about $ 1 billion. Its products have been widely used in the fields of synthetic textiles, pharmaceuticals, construction and others.
Challenge
GSA is located in beautiful Qingdao with pleasant climate. As the company has a larger production capacity, how to reduce waste gas emission and save more energy has become a challenge it has to address for its long-term development.
Solution
By introducing foreign advanced technology, GSA started cryogenic recovery of reformed gas and reduction of olefins in raffinate oil.
This project consists of reformed gas cryogenic recovery unit and raffinate oil reduction olefins and refining unit, whose major products include clean fuel (LPG), light distillates and high value-added refined raffinate oil (high-quality ethylene cracking feed).
Previously, the aromatic complex unit used reformed gas as fuel. As it contains a larger quantity of LPG and light distillates, the equipment emits a larger amount of CO2 in the process of burning. After implementing this project, the reformed gas is treated through cryogenic recovery and isolated LPG and light distillates. More importantly, the fuel is replaced with clean energy in the aroma equipment, which reduces CO2 emission and returns a clean living environment to local residents.
The raffinate oil extracted through original unit contained 12wt% the olefins and it was only sold as a low value-added product. After the implementation of this project, the raffinate oil is converted into high value-added ethylene cracking feed through refining and saturation of olefins.
 
Achievements
Through technological transformation of original aromatic complex unit, it has increased its capacity to 30,000 tons of LPG, 70,000 tons of light distillates and 230,000 tons of refined raffinate oil (high-quality ethylene cracking feed) each year and created more economic benefits. In this project, we have not only increased the added value of products, but also reflected the rational use of energy through the recovery of the originally burned combustible gas and the replacement of clean and efficient energy. In this way, we can lead the development of reformed gas recovery technology in China.
The unit energy consumption of this project was 547.03MJ/t raw material and its annual energy consumption equals to 9,807 tons of standard coal. Through air cooling, process heat recovery, condensate water recovery, reformed gas cryogenic recovery and raffinate oil olefin reduction, we can save energy about 32.70 MKJ/h, equivalent to 531 MJ per ton of raw material (13 kg of standard oil/ton of raw material, 18 kg of standard coal/ton of raw material). We have significantly reduced the consumption of steam, power and water. This project has not only brought profits to the company, but also eased the current shortage of ethylene cracking feed. More importantly, it has stimulated the local economic growth and increased the income of local people.
Prospect
GSA will implement the people-centered sustainable development strategy all the time. While keeping environmental protection as the lifeline of production, we will effectively reduce the impact of production on the surrounding communities,citizens and empolyees and make greater efforts to achieve the harmony and unity between economic returns and social benefits.