Problems for C5 Resources Utilization in China    

Carbon 5 (C5) resources are the byproducts of ethylene cracking processing with as many as over 20 components. Along with the rapid capacity increase of ethylene in China, the utilization of C5 resources is put on the agenda for the major Chinese petrochemical firms. Because the Chinese ethylene producers mainly use liquid naphtha and other heavier oil products as raw materials, which generates larger proportion of C5 by-products than ethylene makers in the Middle East that use light hydrocarbons such as ethane and liquefied petroleum gas.
    "At present, petroleum resins produced in China are mainly C9 petroleum resins, occupies over 70% of the total domestic petroleum resin capacity, C5 petroleum resins occupies the remaining 30%,"  Ms. Zhang Fuqin, Deputy Chief Engineer of China Petroleum Planning & Engineering Institute (CPPEI) claimed in the 2010 C5 Resources Separation Technology and Comprehensive Utilization Conference that held by China Chemical News Periodical, China National Chemical Information Centre, in Beijing on November 11th & 12th, 2010.
    "For most of the domestic liquid raw material-based ethylene crackers, the output of C5 resources are generally 8%-16% of the ethylene output," says Mr. Yuan Xiaguang from Technology Development Department of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), "In 2009, the total output of C5 resources get from ethylene cracking was 1.2 million tons, the figure is expected to reach 1.5 million tons in 2010. In 2015, it is forecasted to be over 2.0 million tons."
   "China's C5 resources are in inadequate to feed petroleum resin makers as well as users. Chinese companies have still lack of good methods for separation and purification of C5 resources," commented Ms. Zhang Fuqin.
    Mr. Yuan Xiaguang shares the ideas of Sinopec Group for the utilization of C5 resources in the future: developing the deep processing technology; planning to build downstream devices; the extracted residues of C5 resources returns to be the supplementary materials for cracking; concentrated utilization of C5 resources in China's eastern, northern and central regions, where locates most of the ethylene crackers.
   Other speakers and participants in the conference also shared their opinion for the development of C5 resources chain and their improvement in the processing technologies. The Pittsburgh-based Neville Chemical Company in the conference also shows that there are also lots of foreign followers for the Chinese C5 utilization technology market.

Amy Lee  
November 16th, 2010