The cracking furnace of the Zhongsha Gulei 1.5 million ton ethylene project successfully achieved a one-time ignition for furnace drying.

Recently, the Zhongsha Gulei 1.5 million tons/year ethylene and downstream deep processing complex project achieved another major breakthrough.

At 22:00 on July 29, the cracking furnace of the project's ethylene unit successfully achieved a one-time ignition for furnace drying. With roaring flames igniting inside the furnace chamber, this marks the project's formal transition from the engineering construction phase to the commissioning and start-up phase, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent full-line connection and smooth production.

The cracking furnace is the "key" equipment of the ethylene unit, and the ignition for furnace drying is a core and critical node before the entire unit is put into operation.

This successful one-time ignition not only inspected the construction quality of the furnace lining and refractory materials but also completed the comprehensive verification of multiple units, including the combustion system, flue system, ultra-high pressure steam generation system, boiler feedwater system, and instrument interlock control system.

Subsequently, the unit will execute the furnace drying procedure. Through controlled slow heating and uniform dehydration, the sintering and molding of the refractory materials will be completed. At the same time, passivation of the radiant section furnace tubes will be carried out to generate a protective oxide layer, ensuring long-term safe and stable operation of the unit after commissioning.

It is understood that the ethylene unit is configured with 10 SRT-VI type cracking furnaces, including 2 gas cracking furnaces and 8 liquid feed cracking furnaces. It can adapt to the cracking and processing of different raw materials and circulating materials, and is equipped with a spare furnace to guarantee full-load continuous production. The main products of the unit are polymer-grade ethylene and polymer-grade propylene; by-products cover pyrolysis gasoline, pyrolysis C4, ethylene tar, 95% hydrogen, 99.99% high-purity hydrogen, methane-rich tail gas, methane stabilizing gas, etc., demonstrating a high level of comprehensive material utilization.

As a key project for China-Saudi production capacity cooperation, the Zhongsha Gulei 1.5 million tons/year ethylene and downstream deep processing complex project has a total investment of 42.07 billion yuan, a total land area of 297.1855 hectares, and plans to construct 14 chemical units with a construction period of 54 months.

The project centers on the 1.5 million tons/year ethylene unit. Downstream, it includes 100/100 tons/year ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol, 400,000 tons/year HDPE, 600,000 tons/year mLLDPE/HDPE, and 50,000 tons/year 1-hexene; for propylene downstream, it is equipped with 400,000 tons/year polypropylene, 550,000 tons/year polypropylene, 250/150 tons/year phenol/acetone, 270,000 tons/year bisphenol A, and 290,000 tons/year polycarbonate. At the same time, supporting units such as 910,000 tons/year pyrolysis gasoline hydrogenation, 220,000 tons/year butadiene extraction, 56,000 tons/year 1-butene, and 570,000 tons/year aromatics extraction will be built to construct a complete petrochemical deep processing industrial chain.

Looking back at the project's construction history, key nodes have been advanced in an orderly manner.

After the commencement of the main project works, civil engineering and equipment installation were carried out in full swing. Large-scale equipment arrived and was positioned in succession, and the construction progress of the units continued to accelerate. With the advancement of the project, various downstream units successively completed mechanical completion and intermediate handover, transitioning from on-site construction to commissioning preparation.

In June 2026, the core ethylene unit completed intermediate handover and officially initiated joint commissioning, fully entering the sprint phase for feedstock commissioning. In late July, the load test of the extrusion and pelletizing units of the polymerization unit was successful; on July 29, the one-time ignition of the cracking furnace for drying was successful, pushing the project's start-up work to a new stage.

Currently, the project is orderly carrying out furnace drying and various system debugging work, advancing steadily towards the established goals. Once the entire unit is put into operation, it will further improve the industrial layout of the Gulei Petrochemical Base, drive the development of the polyolefin and new material industrial chains, and become an important carrier for energy and chemical industry cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia.