Sinopec Catalyst (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. has officially commenced construction of its 1,200 tons per annum (TPA) silver-containing spent catalyst comprehensive recovery project in Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone, with scheduled commissioning in 2027. The new facility serves as a core supporting component of Sinopec Catalyst Tianjin New Material Production Base, marking a key strategic deployment for the subsidiary to expand its catalyst industrial chain.
The project was formally approved for project initiation in January 2026, and obtained official construction approval from Sinopec Catalyst Company in March 2026. All pre-construction procedures including site survey, environmental assessment and construction design were completed with high efficiency. At present, the project has entered full-scale civil construction, and is targeted to finish construction and put into commercial operation in 2027.
Adopting cutting-edge independent recovery processes, the facility delivers a higher silver recovery rate than mainstream domestic and overseas conventional spent catalyst treatment technologies. From an economic perspective, it maximizes the recycling value of scattered silver resources from deactivated petrochemical catalysts, bringing stable long-term economic gains for the company.
In terms of environmental performance, the project addresses the growing market demand for standardized hazardous spent catalyst disposal across the petrochemical sector. It realizes dual goals of high-efficiency recovery of valuable precious metals and harmless treatment of residual solid waste. By closing the resource circulation loop for spent catalysts, the project supports low-carbon transformation and sustainable development of the whole petrochemical industry, and improves the company’s full-lifecycle catalyst management system.
Catalysts are recognized as the core foundational component of the petrochemical industry, widely dubbed as the "chip of petrochemicals". The total investment of Sinopec Catalyst New Material Production Base in Nangang Industrial Zone reaches 6.5 billion RMB. The integrated base plans to build multiple catalyst production lines covering polyolefin catalysts, silver catalysts, DQ catalysts and POE catalysts, alongside complete auxiliary public utility facilities.
Matched with local Nangang ethylene projects, the whole base will supply localized alternative catalysts for large-scale ethylene production. It solves core technological bottlenecks and overseas supply risks in high-end petrochemical catalyst sectors, breaking long-term foreign technological monopoly. Furthermore, the project will upgrade the high-end chemical new material industrial cluster of Nangang Industrial Zone, and optimize the upstream and downstream matching layout of refining and catalyst industrial chains in Tianjin Binhai New Area.
