Published 9/3/2024
In April 2024, Seng Yee Loh, Shell Catalysts & Technologies' General Manager of Asia Regional Sales, and his team visited China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Shell Petrochemicals Company Limited (CSPC). During this visit, the CSPC#2 OMEGA EO Plant team was honoured with the "Highest S-893 cumulative EO Production" award for surpassing the industry record by 48% in cumulative EO production.
CSPC was built in 2000 and is located in Daya Bay, Guangdong, China. Phase II (CSPC #2), started up in 2018, is comprised of an Ethylene Cracker unit (1,200 kta), an OMEGA unit (480 kta MEG / 150 kta EO), and other derivatives, which have been operating successfully since 2018.
CSPC #2 is the second joint venture unit by CNOOC and Shell and the first application of a Shell HP (high-performance) reactor designed with the OMEGA process in China. It started up in June 2018 with S-893 and has been operating well, with cumulative EO production consistently higher than 11 kton/m3 so far. The work rate was above design 63% of the time. By the end of June 2023, the cumulative EO production exceeded the current industry record using S-893 by 48%.
Technological innovation is the key to the success of CSPC#2. To date, Shell has licensed a total of 103 EO/EG units worldwide since 1956. Nearly 45% of the world's EO production uses Shell's patented technology, and more than 50% of the world's EO production uses catalysts supplied by Shell. The Shell HP reactor design with the OMEGA process applied in this case is derived from research and development using accumulated learnings from applied technologies from past projects.
Thanks to the close collaboration among Shell, SEI, and CSPC, the CSPC#2 team has achieved lower CAPEX and higher catalyst utilisation through a shorter reactor design and improved heat integration with a one-year prolonged operating cycle. These innovations have improved work rates and significantly reduced production costs as the MEG market demand decreased. In addition, these technological innovations are key learnings that can be incorporated into the CSPC#3 unit, which is currently in progress.
This success story demonstrates the value of low CAPEX design, high catalyst utilisation and high selectivity in the real world. As market demand fluctuates and lowering CAPEX becomes important for plants to remain competitive, this achievement by the CSPC #2 team demonstrates the importance of technological innovation in improving work rates and reducing costs, also setting a new benchmark for the industry.
