文章转载自世界权威润滑油杂志lubes&greases的栏目《Lube Report Asia》2014年10月7日刊，作者为TIM SULLIVAN。英文报道详见：http://www.lubesngreases.com/lubereport-asia/1_40/bio-synthetics/-7605.html
以下为中文简译（后附英文稿件原文）。
上海纳克润滑技术有限公司和山西潞安集团正在中国山西省建立一家工厂，该工厂将采用煤制油中的费托法a-烯烃原料制备聚a烯烃（PAO）合成基础油。该 PAO 工厂已经在建设中，计划于 2015 年6月建成，预计在第三季度投产。
纳克公司于2014年五月在上海建成了第一家 PAO 工厂，该工厂位于上海的国家级化学园区漕泾。主要使用进口α-烯烃作为原料，也将部分利用山西项目来的a烯烃原料资源做补充。PAO 的生产方式通常是采用碳链长度在 C8 到 C12 的线性α-烯烃（LAO）通过聚合和加氢工艺来制备的。
“费托法a-烯烃（LAO）适于制造PAO，”纳克市场部经理刘青才在一封电子邮件中告诉 Lube Report Asia。“未来中国这种烯烃资源将很丰富，我们需要利用这些资源来弥补中国LAO资源的短缺。”
刘青才说，该 PAO 工厂坐落于长治市，设计能力为 15,000 吨中高粘度 PAO。
该工厂由山西潞安纳克碳一化工有限公司投资建设，位于山西长治市屯留县的煤制油综合利用产业园。整个项目分为两期，一期已经于2014年6月建成投产，主要生产CTL溶剂和a-烯烃，二期目前正在建设中，主要是PAO合成及加氢装置以及灌装和仓储等设施，预计将于2015年6月初步建成，并与第三季度投产。
这将成为世界首次使用 CTL 中的 LAO 来生产 PAO 的案例。CTL（COAL TO LIQUID）是指将煤通过费托合成技术把煤炭转换成油的技术，转换过程首先煤与水制备生成合成气（CO+H2）。合成气再通过费托工艺聚合成长碳链油品。
一位业内专业人士对此有些质疑，Amy Claxton是美国的一家基础油和润滑油行业咨询公司“My Energy”的负责人，其表示潞安CTL工厂使用的技术是一种煤炭间接液化工艺，现在还有其它种类的CTL技术都在大规模使用中，包括煤炭直接液化，或者是先让煤气转化为甲醇，再让甲醇转化为烯烃和其它化学品。
“是个创新，这样能生产a-烯烃我觉得很惊讶，更不要说能够用这个原料来生产PAO了，根据我的了解，目前在中国已经有用甲醇制烯烃的工厂，我认为甲醇制烯烃（MTO）的生产成本会更为低廉，”Claxton在电子邮件中说道。同时，她认为，相比生产PAO的用途，α-烯烃可用于生产比PAO价值更高的很多类其它产品。“对于山西潞安纳克的这个 PAO项目，我还是有些不同意见的，如果这家合资企业只是用这个烯烃生产少量的PAO那是很好的项目，但是，如果这个原料很多，PAO的销路则是个问题了，毕竟PAO还是很贵的基础油。”另外一位专业人士则持非常肯定的积极态度。“长治的这家PAO工厂将主力生产PAO40、PAO150 粘度等级的产品，主要面向中国国内市场，特别是进入高端柴油机油领域，之前是不可能在柴机油中使用PAO的，因为太贵了，但如果成本降下来，对于行业来说是个好消息。”NovitasChem Solutions 的Liwen Wei 解释道。同时，他补充说到，纳克公司在上海漕泾的第一家PAO工厂将于 10 月 24 日在上海举行开业庆典。Novitas位于美国得克萨斯州贝莱尔市，是纳克公司上海工厂的产品在北美的营销者，产品包括PAO 40、PAO 100和烷基萘。
潞安集团是中国五大煤炭公司之一，最早于 2008 年开始运行CTL 工厂。是国内唯一同时运行铁基和鈷基费托装置的省属大型企业。
Coal-based PAOs Coming to China
By Tim Sullivan•October 7, 2014
Naco Lubrication Co. and Lu’an Group are building a plant in China’s Shanxi Province that will use coal-to-liquids feedstock to manufacture polyalphaolefins for synthetic lubricants. The PAO facility is scheduled to begin operations in the third quarter of 2015.
Naco, which in May opened its first PAO plant in Shanghai, said it undertook the Shanxi project to take advantage of the feedstock availability. PAO is made by assembling linear alpha olefins of certain carbon chain lengths, typically ranging from C8 to C12.
“CTL olefins are suitable for making PAOs,” Naco Marketing Manager Liu Qingcai told Lube Report Asia in an e-mail exchange. “These olefins are a local source, and we need them to help fill China’s shortage of linear alpha olefins.”
The PAO plant is located in Changzhi City and designed for capacity to make 15,000 metric tons per year of high-viscosity PAO, Liu said.
It will be the second process unit operated by the 50/50 joint venture. The first is already producing CTL solvents and olefins, and will eventually make wax, too. Construction of the PAO synthesis and hydrogenation plant began in December, two months after the joint venture was formed.
Naco believes this will be the first case of PAOs being produced using LAOs made from CTL. CTL refers to several technologies that turn coal into liquid hydrocarbons, starting by burning the coal to produce carbon monoxide syngas. The joint venture, Lu’An-Naco C1 Chemical Co. Ltd., makes LAO through a Fischer-Tropsch process using an iron-based catalyst.
One industry insider questioned the efficiency of the PAO project. Amy Claxton, principal of My Energy, a U.S. consultancy on base stocks and lubricants, noted that the technology used by Lu’An’s CTL plant is an indirect liquefaction process. There are other categories of CTL technologies that do not use Fischer-Tropsch, including direct coal liquefaction; and coal-to-chemicals, which first turns coal gas to methanol and then transforms the methanol to olefins and other chemicals.
“I was surprised to see that this site would be producing olefins at all, much less producing PAO, as there are already several methanol-to-olefins plants running in China where I think it would be cheaper to get olefins,” Claxton said in an e-mail exchange. She also suggested that linear alpha olefins can be used to make products that are higher in value than PAOs. “I can't get too excited about CTL PAOs. If this joint venture makes a little PAO, great. If they make a lot, they won't be able to sell it.”
The Changzhi PAO plant will be optimized for making a 150 centiStoke viscosity grade that is wholly intended for China’s internal market, and especially for premium diesel engine oils, explained Liwen Wei of Novitas Chem Solutions. Meanwhile, he added, Naco’s first PAO plant will celebrate with an official opening ceremony in Shanghai on October 24.
Novitas, which is based in Bellaire, Texas, U.S.A., is the North American marketer of material from Naco’s Shanghai facility, including 40 and 100 cSt PAO and an alkylated naphthalene.
Lu’an is one of China’s five largest coal companies. It began working on its CTL plant in 2008 and last year opened a pilot plant.
相关评论