SOCAR Selects Axens Aromatics Technology

SOCAR Turkey Energy, part of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), has chosen technology from French company Axens for an aromatics and PTA project in Aliaga, Turkey.

Axens will supply its ParamaX suite of technologies for the complex, which will produce a total of 1.16 million t/y of benzene, PX and OX, along with its pygas hydrogenation technology for steam cracking gasoline treatment.

The ParamaX portfolio comprises Eluxyl PX purification; Morphylane aromatics extraction; XyMax-2 C8 aromatics isomerization; and TransPlus-5 transalkylation.

Axens will also provide catalysts, adsorbents and equipment along with full services ranging from plant personnel training to successful start-up, including monitoring plant performance.

SOCAR said the complex will aim to satisfy Turkey’s domestic PTA needs. A timescale for the project was not disclosed, and a final investment decision has yet to be taken.

The award is the second that Axens has won from SOCAR this year. In January, the Azerbaijani group signed a technology licensing agreement with the French company for a high-purity butene-1 plant.