Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yanan Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd. will construct and operate the plant which will be constructed in Luoyang Village, Fucheng Town, Fu County, Shaanxi Province, China. The ACO Converter will have a capacity of approximately 200 kta of olefins (ethylene plus propylene).

ACO technology is developed jointly by KBR and Korea-based SK Innovation. The keys to this novel technology are the development of a proprietary catalyst and optimization of operating conditions by SK Innovation coupled with the know-how of KBR in the design of fluid bed reactors and olefins production facilities. In October of 2010, SK Innovation successfully started up and operated an ACO Demonstration unit at its facility in Ulsan, South Korea, which met the expectations of both companies.

The ACO process provides a highly attractive alternative to naphtha steam crackers, offering higher olefins production at lower cost.

Yan’an Energy & Chemical Company is honored to be the first commercial user for ACO technology in the world. We went through a very strict technical comparison and evaluation before we made the decision to choose ACO technology. Compared with the traditional steam cracking technology, we believe ACO has many obvious advantages and is therefore much more suitable for our situation. We will work closely together with KBR and SK Innovation to build a plant that successfully demonstrates the technology.

—Wang Jiaxin, General Manger, Yanchang Petroleum Yan’an Energy & Chemical Company

KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, industrial, and commercial markets.

SK Innovation, former SK Energy, is one of the world’s leading energy and petrochemical companies with US$38 billion in sales (as of 2010).