ZPC Supercharges Zhoushan with Planned World’s Largest Licensed PDH Unit

Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co. Ltd. is moving ahead with another major expansion at its Zhoushan refining and petrochemical complex. The company has awarded Lummus Technology LLC a contract to license proprietary propane dehydrogenation technology for a new production unit.

The proposed PDH unit will be installed at the Zhoushan Green Petrochemical Base on Yushan Island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China. ZPC’s integrated refining and petrochemical complex has capacity of 40 million tonnes/year.

With planned capacity of 1.2 million tpy, the unit is set to become the world’s largest licensed PDH unit when it starts operating. Lummus and catalyst supplier Clariant Ltd. disclosed the project in separate releases on Sept. 10.

The unit will produce propylene for conversion into petrochemical products with higher value. Its planned scale will add substantial propylene production capacity to an already large integrated refining and chemicals platform.

ZPC also expects the unit to use additional propane supplies generated by continuing expansions at the integrated complex. The service providers identified those supplies as part of the planned project’s feedstock picture.

Clariant confirmed that it will provide its CATOFIN catalyst for the new PDH unit. The company will also supply its heat generating material, known as HGM, for the project.

Neither Lummus nor Clariant disclosed the value of the awarded contract. The companies also provided no proposed commissioning schedule, leaving the timing of construction completion and startup unspecified.

The contract represents ZPC’s first selection of the CATOFIN PDH process technology from Lummus. According to Lummus, ZPC previously used a different PDH technology for its operations.

Lummus and Clariant jointly market the CATOFIN process. Their offering combines the process technology developed by Lummus with the catalyst system supplied by Clariant.

The companies said CATOFIN is designed to support high propylene yields and stable operations. They also said the technology can support production at or above a unit’s design capacity.

The PDH project will broaden the production system at ZPC’s Zhoushan Green Petrochemical Base. It will sit within a complex that combines large refining capacity with petrochemical production on Yushan Island.

ZPC already uses several proprietary Lummus technologies elsewhere within the complex. Lummus identified its CDAlky alkylation, ISOCRACKING, DPC, and butadiene extraction processes among the technologies previously selected by the operator.

In 2021, Lummus reported the startup of ZPC’s second CDAlky unit at the Zhoushan manufacturing site. That unit has capacity to produce 45,000 b/d of alkylate.

The startup brought the complex’s combined CDAlky capacity to 59,000 b/d. The earlier deployment of Lummus processes established a technology relationship at the site before ZPC’s selection of CATOFIN for the planned PDH unit.

The first phase of ZPC’s integrated complex entered service in late 2018. That initial phase provided 400,000 b/d of refining capacity at the Zhoushan operation.

A second phase had nearly doubled the site’s refining and production capabilities by yearend 2022. The proposed PDH unit now forms another addition to the expanding integrated complex.

The Lummus and Clariant award follows another technology contract announced for the site in July 2026. Under that earlier contract, ABB Ltd. will provide electromagnetic flowmeters with Ethernet Advanced Physical Layer capability for ZPC’s 450,000 tpy adipic acid plant.

The ABB equipment is intended to support process monitoring, diagnostics, and operations at the chemical unit. Together, the disclosed projects cover new petrochemical production capacity as well as instrumentation for an existing chemical plant at ZPC’s Zhoushan base.