06-01-2015

First propylene production unit using UOP technology reaches project capacity in Russia

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that UOP C3 Oleflex™ process technology started up and has been successfully operating in Russia, producing high-quality propylene to help meet the global supply shortage of the valuable plastics building block.

Russia's OOO Tobolsk-Polymer facility, which became the largest Oleflex production unit in the world, is meeting design capacity of 510,000 metric tons annually (MTA) of propylene at its facility in Western Siberia.

"Petrochemical makers are installing additional propylene capacity to meet growing demand and to make up for the shortage of propylene production from traditional refining and petrochemical sources," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business unit. "Oleflex has been a leading technology for converting propane to propylene for more than 20 years, and the start-up of the first Oleflex unit in Russia demonstrates both the need for more propylene capacity in the country, as well as the value of the technology."

Global propylene demand is growing at about 4 to 5 percent per year. Russia is expected to be a large contributor to propylene production due to the country's diversification into the petrochemicals sector, which has seen substantial investment in the polyethylene and polypropylene industries, according to GlobalData.

"We licensed UOP Oleflex technology because it perfectly fits our feedstock profile, it is in line with our strategic  goals to invest in propylene derivatives, particularly in polypropylene, and because Oleflex is more competitive than most other technologies available on the market," said Sergey Komyshan, SIBUR's Managing Director – Head of Basic Polymers Division. "We are one of the region's largest polypropylene producers, and are in the top quartile of the most efficient polypropylene production facilities globally in terms of cash costs. UOP Oleflex technology is well-aligned with our goals to sustain continued growth and market success."

The C3 Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene. Compared with competing processes, UOP's C3 Oleflex technology provides the lowest cash cost of production, the highest return on investment and the smallest environmental footprint. This superior performance is characterized by low capital cost, high propylene yields, low energy and water consumption, and use of a fully recyclable platinum alumina-based catalyst system. In addition to the C3 Oleflex process, UOP also licenses its C4 Oleflex technology, a butane dehydrogenation process to convert isobutane to isobutylene.

OOO Tobolsk-Polymer, a subsidiary of SIBUR Holding JSC, produces a wide range of high-quality polypropylene used to manufacture goods in Russia and abroad. The facility is located in Tobolsk in the Tymen region of Russia.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com