Lummus Technology is the exclusive worldwide licensor of BP’s paraxylene technology, a unique process employing single stage crystallization for paraxylene (pX) recovery. This innovative configuration, paired with high feed impurity tolerance and low overall unit fuel consumption, makes the Lummus Technology/BP pX crystallization technology the most energy-efficient paraxylene recovery method. The Lummus Technology/BP paraxylene process is highly-reliable, low-cost and is capable of accepting a wide-range of feed compositions. Paraxylene yield is further increased via isomerization over a non-noble metal catalyst. Optimized fractionation reduces reboiler duty, leading to lower energy requirement as well as lower emissions.
Benefits
By producing paraxylene at purities of 99.8%+ via a single stage of crystallization with double reslurry technology, the Lummus Technology/BP paraxylene process has surpassed earlier crystallization technologies by exhibiting the lowest energy consumption and lowest capital cost.
- Lowest overall energy usage
- No adsorbents/desorbents, specialty equipment or special control system required
- Lowest emissions due to 1/3 fuel fired compared to SA (Selective Adsorption)
- Lowest CAPEX/OPEX
- Highest reliability—typically greater than 99%
- Atmospheric xylene splitter operating pressure leads to overall process energy savings and allows use of steam reboiling instead of fired reboiling, resulting in lower equipment cost, further reduced relief loads and less plot space
- No isomerization stabilizer (or deheptanizer) required
- No aromatics extraction process required for min. 99.9 wt% purity of benzene production
- Most flexible, least stringent feed specification requirements
- Requires a single, smaller xylenes recovery column versus multiple larger columns. A single fractionation column can handle up to three million metric tons per year of pX
- Highest feed impurity tolerance to light and heavy aromatics, with no oxygen stripper and clay treating required for imported feedstocks
- Heavy reformate, transalkylation xylenes or mixed xylene feed streams with high impurities levels from a variety of sources can be processed
- Isomerization catalyst is regenerable with a life of greater than ten years, is a non-noble metal catalyst, exhibits constant low xylene loss over SOR/EOR with a high xylene approach to equilibrium, and a high tolerance to sulfur, amines and other poisons. Initial working capital is further reduced due to no precious metals
- Able to handle a wide range of feedstocks, including high purity pX feeds from selective toluene disproportionation process or equivalent process with no additional equipment or utility consumption
- Smallest plot size requirement
- Well-suited for new aromatics production technologies (such as methanol-to-aromatics) with low CAPEX/OPEX