08-05-2014

UOP to provide technologies for petrochemical production in China

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that its technologies have been selected to produce key ingredients for fuels and synthetic rubber in China.

China’s Lijin Petrochemical Plant Co., Ltd. will use Honeywell’s UOP C4 Oleflex™ process to produce isobutylene, an important ingredient for fuels and synthetic rubber. This is UOP’s 15th Oleflex project in China in the past three years. Lijin Petrochemical also will use Honeywell’s UOP Butamer™ process, which converts normal butane into isobutane to increase feedstock flexibility for the UOP Oleflex process.

Lijin Petrochemical chose UOP’s Oleflex process over competing processes based on the superior economics, proven reliability and long track record of other UOP C4 dehydrogenation units operating around the world.

“As the need for fuels and petrochemical intermediates continues to grow around the globe, UOP is providing solutions that help producers meet local demand and capture a high return on their investment,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s UOP Process Technology and Equipment business unit. “UOP’s Oleflex technology will be used in China to produce about 1 million metric tons annually of isobutylene, and we look forward to working with Lijin to make this project a success.”

The new unit, which is expected to start up in 2015, will produce 170,000 metric tons annually of isobutylene product at its facility in Shandong Province, China. UOP will provide the engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training, and technical service for the project.

Honeywell UOP’s Butamer process converts normal butane to isobutane. The UOP Butamer process achieves the highest selectivity with low energy and low capital investment, and has been the leading technology in the industry for decades.

The C4 Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert isobutane to isobutylene. Compared with competing processes, Oleflex technology provides the lowest cash cost of production, the highest return on investment, and the smallest environmental footprint. As a result of its strong economics and technical advantages, the Oleflex process has been selected to support 80 percent of the light paraffin dehydrogenation projects around the world.

Lijin Petrochemical Plant Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Lihuayi Group, one of the largest local petrochemical enterprises in China.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com