ALGERIA: Sonatrach nearing paraxylene start up at Skikda

Sonatrach is expected to begin operations this month at its new paraxylene production facility in Skikda, Algeria, according to GTC Technology, licensor of technology for the project. In 2009, Sonatrach announced a project to modernize and increase the capacity of its Skikda refinery and add new aromatics production facilities.

At that time, the company said the project would include 700,000 t/y of isomerate, 220,000 t/y of paraxylene and 200,000 t/y of benzene capacity.

The new paraxylene unit will utilize GTC's CrystPX technology to recover paraxylene from reformate feedstock, and GT-IsomPX technology, a process that uses an Isoxyl catalyst from Clariant, to isomerize the C8 aromatics into additional paraxylene.

GTC's license also includes naphtha hydrotreating and reforming, aromatics extraction, and other aromatics operations. Samsung Engineering provided engineering, procurement and construction services for the new facilities.

Source: Weekly "PetroChemical News", Durham, NC, USA; 16 Dec 2013

(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)