China’s First Coking Benzene-Based CPL Plant Started Up

China’s Lubao Coking started up its new 100 000 t/a caprolactam (CPL) plant on July 9. With an investment of RMB3.2 billion, the plant is the first of its kind in the world, using coking benzene as the sole feedstock for CPL production. It is also the first coking benzene-based CPL plant in China.
Construction began May 2012. The plant will refine crude benzene and produce synthetic ammonia, sulfuric acid, cyclohexane, cyclohexanone, cyclohexanone-oxime and CPL.
China’s Lubao Coking has been actively exploring sustainable development of high-end coal chemicals and will keep extending the fine chemicals industrial chain. The company plans to invest RMB10 billion in a number of fine chemical projects, including a 100 000 t/a polyester chip and yarn plant, a 1m t/a methanol project, a 600 000 t/a methanol-to-olefins (MTO) project and a 600 000 t/a ammonia sulfate granular fertilizer project, and to gradually form a first-class, modern fine chemicals industrial park in China.