China's First Integrated Green Ethylene Project Begins Operation
China's first fully integrated, green, and low-carbon ethylene project, achieving 99% domestic component rate, has commenced production. The initiative aims to significantly reduce carbon emissions.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has announced the successful commencement of production for its first fully integrated, green, and low-carbon ethylene project in the country. The second phase of the Dushanzi Petrochemical's Tarim 1.2 million tons/year ethylene facility and its associated low-carbon demonstration project officially began operation on July 16.
The project is located in the Shangku High-tech Industrial Development Zone in Korla, Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, at the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. It is presented as the first project in China's refining and chemical industry to fully embrace green and low-carbon development principles, including the establishment of the world's first demonstration base for recycling carbon emissions from ethylene cracking.
The project boasts a domestic component rate of 99%, with 10 out of 11 major production units utilizing domestically developed technologies, nine of which are proprietary to CNPC. Notably, the ethylene unit employs the company's core technology for the first time, converting three critical compressor units—for cracked gas, ethylene refrigeration, and propylene refrigeration—from traditional turbine drives to electric motor drives. Furthermore, four large-scale extrusion pelletizing units with a 450,000 tons/year capacity represent a domestic breakthrough, filling several technological gaps in large-scale ethylene equipment.
Technologically, the facility implements a comprehensive low-carbon system combining direct connection of green electricity, carbon capture, and the production of blue hydrogen and blue ammonia for green fertilizer manufacturing. It is estimated that the project will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 510,000 tons annually by integrating solar power from the Tarim Oilfield, boosting the facility's terminal electrification rate to nearly 30%. The carbon capture technology enables its use in fertilizer production and enhanced oil recovery, potentially reducing the ethylene unit's carbon emission intensity by 42%. The initiative aims for a total annual reduction of 1.37 million tons of carbon emissions from the entire complex.
The operational launch signifies the completion of the first 3 million tons/year class ethylene industrial base in China's central and western regions. Following this launch, CNPC's Dushanzi Petrochemical's total ethylene production capacity will reach 3.2 million tons per year. This development is expected to alter the industry landscape, which has historically seen ethylene capacity concentrated in the east with weaker raw material supply in the west, thereby enhancing the resilience of China's national energy and chemical industry supply chain.