PDP for Caprolactam Manufacturing Technology Developed by RIPP Has Passed Review

Recently, the 300 kt/a process design package (PDP) for manufacturing caprolactam via gas‐phase re‐arrangement of cyclohexanone‐oxime developed by the SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) as the leading institution has passed the technical review and assessment organized by the SINOPEC Science and Technology Division.This PDP will provide technical support for the relocation of the Nanjing Chemical Company’s caprolactam production unit.

The experts attending the review and assessment meeting have admitted that the design of the process flow scheme is reasonable, and the quality indicators of products are better than those of the premium products specified by the Chinese standard, coupled with less carbon dioxide emissions and low discharge of “solid, liquid and gaseous wastes”.Since this PDP features an innovative nature with independent intellectual property rights, the engineering design can be carried out according to this PDP to speed up the commercial application of this technology.

Compared to the currently adopted process of carprolactam production via the liquid‐phase re‐arrangement of cyclohexanone‐oxime, the said process is a high‐temperature gas‐phase reaction catalyzed by the all‐silicon molecular sieve silicalite‐1, which without using sulfuric acid can become an environmentally friendly novel green technique to constitute one of the six key techniques making up the package technology for green production of caprolactam.

Caprolactam is an important raw material in organic chemical industry.Caprolactam, as a monomer for manufacture of synthetic fibre Nylon‐6 and engineering plastics Nylon‐66, is extensively applied in many fields for creatively producing new materials, such as textile,automotive, electronics, etc.

In December 2020, RIPP was awarded the China industrial grand prize for novel green caprolactam package production technology.This project has developed a green caprolactam production package technology with independent intellectual property rights, which can boost the country’s caprolactam self‐sufficiency rate to 94%, making it the world’s largest producer.