LAN-CHOU PETROCHEMICAL PLANT LAN-CHOU, CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: NGA Records (Formerly NIMA)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00909A000400010057-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 12, 2008
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: June 1, 1972
• Content Type: REPORT

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Top Secret
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Industrial Facilities
(Non-Military)
Basic Imagery Interpretation Report
Lan-chou Petrochemical Plant
Lan-chou, China
Top Secret
RCS 13/0063/72
25X1
DATE JUNE 1972
COPY 11.7 .
PAGES 7
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TOP SECRET RUFF RCS 13/0063/72
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
Imagery Analysis Service
UTM COORDINATES
NA
GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES COMIREX NO. NIETB NO.25X1
36-07-10N 103-36-30E None None
ACIC. USATC, Series 200, Sheet M0383-22HL, 3rd ed, Dec 68 Scale 1:200,000
(SECRET
LATEST IMAGERY USED NEGATION DATE (If required)
Lan-chou Petrochemical Plant consists of three production components: an
alcohol-based synthetic rubber plant, a butane/butylene-based synthetic rubber
plant, and a crude-oil based synthetic fiber and plastics plant. The main
products are synthetic rubber, the plastics polyethylene and polypropylene,
and acrylic fibers.
In September 1959, when the area was first seen on photography, the alcohol-
based synthetic rubber plant was in the mid-to-late stages of construction. The
butane/butylene-based synthetic rubber plant was in the early stages of construction.
The alcohol-based synthetic rubber plant was first seen in operation in September
1963 and the butane/butylene-based synthetic rubber plant in January 1967. The
synthetic fiber and plastics plant was first seen under construction in August
1965. It was in partial operation by December 1969 and in full operation in
July 1971.
This report includes a location map, a photograph and line drawing of the
petrochemical plant, a construction chronology of the plant, and a discussion of
the status of the facilities.
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FIGURE 1. LOCATION MAP.
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INTRODUCTION
Lan-chou Petrochemical Plant is located on the south bank of the Huang Ho
(Yellow River), 11 nautical miles (nm) west-northwest of Lan-chou, Kansu
Province (see Figure 1). It is part of a larae industrial complex which includes
the Lan-chou Chemical Fertilizer Plant the Lan-chou Aluminum 25X1
Plant H , and the Lan-chou Petroleum Refinery 25X1
Electric power and steam are provided by the adjacent Lan-chou Thermal
The petrochemical plant occupies an area of about 275 acres, which measures
approximately 5,225 by 3,050 feet (see Figures 2 and 3). Rail service is
provided by spurs from the line extending west-northwest from Lan-chou.
Operational Functions
The petrochemical plant consists of three production components: a synthetic
rubber plant using alcohol as a feedstock, a synthetic rubber plant using butane/
butylene as a feedstock, and a synthetic fiber and plastics plant using crude
oil as a feedstock. The alcohol is shipped into the plant by rail. The butane/
butylene comes from the petroleum refinery by pipeline. Crude oil could come
by pipeline from the nearby refinery or by rail line directly from an oilfield.
The first step in both synthetic rubber plants is the production of butadiene.
In the alcohol-based plant, the alcohol is vaporized and passed over a catalyst
to form acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde plus additional alcohol is passed over a
catalyst and then fractionated to yield butadiene. When butane/butylene is used
it is heated and passed through a reactor and dehydrogenated to form butadiene.
At both plants the butadiene is then copolymerized with.styrehe or acrylon.itrile
in a polymerization kettle to yield synthetic rubber in latex form. The latex
is stored and .blended in tanks for uniformity. Before shipping it is purified,
dried and bailed.
Prior to completion of the acrylonitrile unit in the synthetic fiber and
plastics plant, the synthetic rubber plants probably used styrene in the
copolymerization-process. The styrene could have been produced from by-product
ethylene from the alcohol-based synthetic rubber plant or from the catalytic
cracking unit of the refinery. Alkylation of the ethylene with benzene yields
ethylbenzene which is dehydrogenated to styrene. With the completion of the
acrylonitrile plant any acrylonitrile not used in making acrylic fibers could
be copolymerized into synthetic rubber.
Crude oil for the synthetic fiber and plastics plant is cracked in the
sand cracker. The products of this cracking are pumped to the gas separation
and aromatics extraction unit for further processing. Here the ethylene, propylene
and by-products are separated. The ethylene is mixed with oxygen, fed into a
reactor, and polymerized into polyethylene in the polyethylene unit. The liquid
polyethylene is chilled until solid and run through a chopper to yield polyethylene
flakes. In the polypropylene unit, propylene is polymerized in a reactor in the
presence of a catalyst. The polypropylene is purified and chopped into pellets.
Propylene is also reacted with ammonia (probably from the adjacent fertilizer
plant), air and steam to produce acrylonitrile. The acrylonitrile is dissolved
in a solvent, converted, and spun into acrylic fibers.
The main products of the petrochemical plant are synthetic rubber, plastics,
and acrylic fibers. By-products of the sand cracker and gas separation and
aromatics extraction unit include ethane, propane, methane, gasoline, fuel oil,
toluene, and xylene. Ethyl ether, butene, ethyl acetate, and butyl alcohol are
by-products of the production of butadiene from alcohol.
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Construction and Operational Status
The petrochemical plant was built in three stages. On the first available
photography of the area, in September 1959, the alcohol-based synthetic rubber
plant was in the mid-to-late stages of construction. When the synthetic rubber
plant was next observed, in September 1963, it appeared complete and in operation.
The butane/butylene-based synthetic rubber plant was in the early stages of
construction in September 1959. It was in the midstages of construction in
September 1963, and in the late stages in October 1964. On small-scale.photo-
graphy of August 1966 most of the equipment appeared to be in place but there
was no evidence of operation. The plant was operating in January 1967.
Ground scarring for the synthetic fiber and plastics plant was observed on
photography of August 1965. By May 1967, the sand cracker, the gas separation
and aromatics extraction unit, the polyethylene unit, and the polypropylene
unit were in the late stages of construction. The acrylic fibers plant was in
the midstages of construction, and the acrylonitrile unit was in the early
stages of construction. By December 1969, the sand cracker, ga's separation
and aromatics extraction unit, polyethylene, and polypropylene units were
operating. The acrylic fibers plant was in the late stages of;-construction
and the acrylonitrile unit was in the midstage of construction; Partial
coverage of April 1970 showed the acrylonitrile unit was nearing completion.
The acrylic fibers unit and the acrylonitrile unit were both complete on
July 1971 photography.
The construction chronology of the entire plant from October 1964 to July
1971 is shown in Figure 3.
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Map
225X1 I
ACIC. US Air Target Chart, Series 200. Sheet M0383-22HL. 3rd edition. December
1 QrfR cr- I 0 1 ? Inn nnn (SECRET) 25X1
Requirement
COMIREX N06
Support Number 428923
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