Plant #1 > BTX
The BTX plant was established for the stable operation of the naphtha cracking plant and improvement in the added value of its byproducts. Built based on a technical partnership with France’s IFP and US’s UOP, the plant is producing aromatic products (benzene, toluene, and xylene), the basic raw materials for fibers and synthetic resin produced through the process of extraction and distillation using thermally cracked gasoline as fuel.
■ Production process
01 Raw Material Drum
The raw material drum is for the stable feeding of thermally cracked gasoline to the process that is produced from the naphtha cracking plant. The raw material, with water and foreign substances removed through filtration, is steadily supplied to the process by pump.
02 Hydrogenation Process
The process involves eliminating the impurities in the raw material and producing partially hydrogenated C5 products as a byproduct. Second, unsaturated hydrocarbon is completely eliminated together with sulfides.
03 Preliminary Fractionation Process
The process involves producing xylene and C9 using the difference in boiling point. It performs the function of reducing the load on the next process by eliminating xylene and C9, which are easily cracked due to a large difference in boiling point.
04 Extraction Process
The process involves extracting aromatic content using solvents. Non-aromatic products are produced as residue. Since separation by distillation is difficult due to the similarity in boiling point, a solvent with strong affinity with aromatics is used to extract only aromatic content.
05 Separation Process
The process involves producing benzene and toluene separately using the difference in boiling point. Compounds of benzene and toluene extracted from the extraction process are separated using the difference in boiling point.
