MALAYSIA: Lotte Chemical's cracking reactor to resume operations

Lotte Chemical Titan Holding Bhd’s KBR Catalytic Olefins Technology catalytic cracking reactor (K-COT) will resume operations on Saturday (16 Dec 2017) following a stop-work order in early October 2017.

The group said in a statement that K-COT within its TE3 project, now known as Fluidized Naphtha Cracker (FNC), will begin commercial operations on Saturday (16 Dec 2017) after successful test runs.

The Department of Environment issued a stop-work order on Lotte Chemical’s Pasir Gudang factory identified as the source of a stench, which had reached Singapore’s shores.

Lotte Chemical said it has constructed a stand-alone FNC, which is integrated to the existing Naphtha Cracker (NC) 2 plant pipeline in Pasir Gudang, Johor, but NC2 and FNC can operate independently.

“FNC is expected to increase the plant’s performance and efficiency, further improving ethylene and propylene production by utilizing existing recycled products.”

With the increase in capacity, Lotte Chemical president and CEO Lee Dong Woo noted that the group will be able to deliver greater volume of ethylene to the Indonesian plants as feedstock, and the PP3 Project is undertaken to complement the additional propylene produced by FNC.

The project is expected to produce up to 93,000 t/y of ethylene, 170,000 t/y of propylene, and 134,000 t/y of BTX.

Source: “The Sun Daily”, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; 14 Dec 2017

(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)