Malaysia’s PEC relies on Honeywell’s aromatics tech for lower costs

Singapore-based petrochemicals conglomerate, ChemOne Group, master developer of Malaysia’s Pengerang Energy Complex (PEC) in Johor, says it is set to reap the benefits of its utilisation of US tech firm Honeywell’s UOP LD Parex aromatics technology with up to 40% reduction of operating expenses as well as a capital expenses reduction of up to 20% once the plant begins operations.

Paraxylene has long been a critical building block in polyester and plastics production, especially across markets like China which make up 60% of global market consumption. The global paraxylene demand is expected to surge at 5.32% annually, generating a revenue of US$52.92 billion by 2031. Against the backdrop of declining fuel demand, this represents a significant growth opportunity and plants such as PEC is set to deliver both improved production economics as well as reduced carbon footprint, underpinning ChemOne’s intent to deliver new benchmark settings for the industry, it says.

The technological innovation in question by UOP that makes this all possible is an advanced adsorptive separation process that replaces the traditional heavy desorbents with a more efficient light desorbent – toluene. This light desorbent scheme enables significant simplification in fractionation units which is one of the major drivers in reduction in both operating/capital expenses with emphases on fuel reduction consumption per metric tonne of paraxylene produced. Its new ADS-50 molecular sieve adsorbent uses an efficient and reliable heat intensification methods in the market at present.

In short, these engineering innovations are at the core of modern aromatics production, and will maximise ROI and efficiency, lower capital and energy costs and allow for wider feedstock flexibility, including processing various blends of US (Permian Basin), Middle East and Australian condensates, according to PEC.

For Honeywell UOP, PEC will be the first plant outside China that will be utilising the LD Parex technology. It is estimated that PEC will have the lowest costs of production (CCOP) amongst all the other plants globally that are utilising UOP’s technology: resulting in an estimated savings of US$120 per/tonne of paraxylene produced.

PEC also will incorporate Generation 5 LD Parex technology, advanced catalysts and adsorbents, and intelligent process design, realising in one of the industry’s lowest carbon footprints and utility consumption, designed to minimise Scope 1 and 2 emissions, ChemOne adds.

ChemOne Group’s sustainability roadmap includes the development of a potential downstream renewable fuels facility, which will utilise byproducts from PEC along with other waste products as raw materials to produce renewable fuels including Sustainable Aviation Fuel, hydrogen, biodiesel and other biofuels.

“As the global refining industry pivots from fuel production to petrochemicals, refineries have been under increasing pressure to adapt and power profitability and efficiency. Which is why ChemOne decided to partner with Honeywell UOP in utilising its proprietary LD Parex innovation to achieve the promise of production efficiency and economic viability for our petrochemical complex of the future,” said Alwyn Bowden, CEO of Pengerang Energy Complex Sdn Bhd.

“UOP’s LD Parex and associated technologies enables facilities like PEC to lead the world in aromatics production—not just in volume, but in value and vision,” concluded Bowden.

In the coming months, PEC is expected to conclude all project financing and achieve FID, whilst commencing groundbreaking at its site in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia.

The US$5.3 billion PEC project is set to be one of the largest and most competitive integrated condensate splitter and aromatics facilities in the world, estimated to generate an annual export turnover of US$5 billion for Malaysia. The 6.5 million tonnes/year, facility is capable of processing 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate plus side feed of naphtha, that will in turn produce aromatics of 2.6 million tonnes/year, energy products output of 3 million tonnes/year and hydrogen output of 50,000 tonnes/year.

The condensate splitter will produce heavy naphtha, a primary feedstock for the aromatics plant whereas the hydrogen produced is planned to be used to support development of downstream renewable fuels facilities in Johor.