Abstract: The commercial application of sulfolane extraction and distillation (SED) technology developed by Research Institute of Petroleum Processing was successfully carried out on the 780 kt/a PX project of Huizhou Refinery. The performance test and long-term running results showed although the feed compositions were different from the design values in some items, due to the advanced process technology and reasonable process scheme, all the technical indexes met the design targets. The qualities of benzene and toluene reached the requirements of National Standard for super grade products; the recovery rates of benzene and toluene were 99.8% and 99.9%, respectively. The investment, energy consumption and material consumption of SED process were lower than those of the other similar technologies.

Key words: sulfolane, extraction distillation, aromatic hydrocarbon, unit operation