Technological breakthroughs have borne fruit, and a proprietary process opens a new chapter! ZONEPIC's long-cycle scale-up validation trial of its in-house high-temperature selective ethylene tetramerization process for 1-octene production has been successfully concluded. The unit operated continuously and stably at full load, with operating conditions steady and well controlled throughout, and all key indicators meeting targets across the board — establishing the core technological foundation for the industrial-scale deployment of high-end high-carbon alpha-olefins in China.

On June 16, 2026, the kiloton-scale pilot unit for producing 1-octene via the high-temperature solution-process ethylene tetramerization at Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical Co., Ltd. (ZPC) was officially commissioned with feedstock under the leadership of relevant executives, and the entire process was commissioned in a single pass. All technical validation tasks were successfully completed by July 20. With the long-cycle assessment of ethylene tetramerization passed, ZONEPIC formally announced that it has simultaneously mastered two differentiated, original high-end alpha-olefin processes — ethylene trimerization and ethylene tetramerization — and completed full-scale validation of both.

In the early R&D stage, ZONEPIC started with a low-temperature catalytic system, but extensive experiments revealed that it could not overcome the problem of polyethylene by-products precipitating and fouling the system at low temperatures, making long-term continuous production difficult. Building on prior research, the project team launched an end-to-end technical reconfiguration: developing an all-new high-temperature-resistant catalytic system, redesigning the entire process route, and developing dedicated high-temperature equipment and anti-fouling structures — ultimately giving rise to a complete, stable long-cycle high-temperature solution-process technology.

This trial adopted ZONEPIC's proprietary high-temperature solution-process selective ethylene tetramerization technology for 1-octene, paired with its self-developed Vexisol^TM high-temperature dedicated catalyst. The entire process flow, core reaction equipment, separation unit, and proprietary anti-fouling devices were all developed and designed in-house. Through structural optimization of the main catalyst, the technology maintains excellent catalytic activity and 1-octene selectivity within the 80-120 °C range, while effectively suppressing the formation of high-molecular-weight polyethylene chains and allowing polyethylene by-products to fully dissolve in the reaction solvent at reaction temperature. This resolves the long-standing production pain points of the ethylene tetramerization process — by-product accumulation, frequent equipment and pipeline blockage, and short operating cycles. During the trial, the unit ran stably and met continuous-production requirements, validating the advanced performance and industrial feasibility of the fully self-developed technology, accumulating complete scale-up operating parameters and hands-on experience, and successfully clearing the core obstacles to its industrial deployment. The company has now fully launched the design of a 10,000-tonne-scale high-carbon alpha-olefin project, and its industrialization is advancing rapidly.

Looking ahead, ZONEPIC will continue to tackle the key core technologies of high-end alpha-olefins. Leveraging its fully autonomous and controllable advantages across catalysts, processes, and core equipment, it will vigorously advance the domestic substitution of high-end 1-hexene and 1-octene, shoring up the weak link of critical raw materials in China's polyolefin industry chain. With original, self-developed technologies, the company will support the high-end, autonomous, and high-quality development of the domestic new-materials industry, and provide a "ZONEPIC solution" for the upgrading of China's polyolefin industry.