GE's Oil & Gas business will supply compressor trains for two major milestone projects featuring the world’s largest coal-based propylene plants.

The two projects are Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group’s plant in the Ningxia province of western China and Datang International Power Generation Co. Ltd.’s facility in Xilinguola, Inner Mongolia. Both complexes will produce approximately 500,000 tons of polypropylene per year when they enter commercial service in early 2009. They will be the world’s first commercial-scale plants based on Lurgi AG’s new Methanol-to-Propylene (MTP®) technology for the production of propylene from coal. Propylene is a major commodity in the petrochemical industry, used primarily for the production of polypropylene, a thermoplastic polymer used in a variety of applications.

"The use of coal for chemical and fuel production is driving new opportunities in China and other parts of the world with rich coal resources" said Claudi Santiago, President of GE's Oil & Gas business. “By leveraging GE technology and industry experience, we are well positioned to support customers in this rapidly growing segment over the next few years.”

“GE pioneered the use of centrifugal compressors in syngas applications, and our technology has continued to evolve in ammonia and methanol processes,” continued Santiago, adding that "GE welcomes every challenge the two exciting projects will involve."

GE equipment

GE's installations for the Ningxia project will include a syngas/recycle gas compressor train, a hydrocarbon compressor train, spare parts and training. The equipment will be manufactured at GE's facilities in Florence and Massa, Italy, and will be shipped to the project site in the third quarter of 2008. This will be the largest coal-to-chemical project developed to date by Shenhua Ningxia Industry Coal Group. The facility will include a coal gasifier plant, a methanol-to-propylene unit and a polypropylene unit.

For the Xilinguola project, GE will provide a hydrocarbon compressor train, to include a large, horizontally split centrifugal compressor with a condensing steam turbine driver; a de-ethanizer compressor and a polypropylene compressor. This equipment will be manufactured at GE's Florence facilities and shipped to China in the second quarter of 2008. 

These two projects mark a significant expansion of GE’s technology base in China’s oil and gas industry. Last year, GE was selected to supply compression station equipment for the expansion of China’s West-East Gas Pipeline Project, one of the country’s most critical infrastructure projects of the 21st century.

For more information, please contact:

Giorgio Greco
Giorgio.Greco@ge.com