Honeywell's UOP Selected To Provide Technology For Petrochemical Production In China

DES PLAINES, Ill., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UOP LLC, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company, announced today that its technology has been selected to help produce key ingredients for fuels, synthetic rubber and plastics in China.

China's Heilongjiang Anruijia Petrochemical Co. will use Honeywell's UOP C ₄ Oleflex™ process to produce isobutylene, a key ingredient for fuels and synthetic rubber. The company will also use Honeywell's UOP Butamer™ process to produce normal butane, a feedstock used to produce ethylene, a building block for plastics.

"In order to meet domestic demand for fuels, plastics and other key materials, China is rapidly emerging as one of the largest petrochemical producers in Asia," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell's UOP Process Technology & Equipment business unit. "Over the past two years, UOP has licensed technology in China to produce more than 4 million metric tons of certain key petrochemicals, and we look forward to continuing to provide efficient, cost-effective technology solutions to support the country's growth."

The new units, expected to start up in 2014, will produce 180,000 metric tons annually of isobutylene and 150,000 metric tons annually of normal butane at its facility in Heilongjiang Province, China. This will be the first facility in China to dedicate a process unit for isobutylene production using Honeywell's UOP C ₄ Oleflex process, and the first to license Honeywell's UOP Butamer process to produce normal butane.

Honeywell's UOP will also provide the engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for the project.

The C ₄ 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, enabled by high isobutylene yields, low energy and water consumption, and use of a fully recyclable platinum alumina-based catalyst system. In addition, unique to the Oleflex process, independent reaction and regeneration systems are in place that allow continuous use of catalysts for steady-state operations (non swing-bed), which helps maximize operating flexibility, on-stream factor and reliability.

Since the Oleflex technology was commercialized in 1990, Honeywell's UOP has commissioned nine C ₃ Oleflex units for on-purpose propylene production and six C ₄ Oleflex units for on-purpose isobutylene production. Since the beginning of 2011, Honeywell's UOP has announced nine new C ₃ Oleflex units in China, Abu Dhabi and North America. It also announced China's first combined C ₃/C ₄ Oleflex unit, which is expected to start-up in 2014.

Honeywell's UOP Butamer process uses high-activity, chloride-promoted catalysts in the presence of hydrogen to convert isobutane to normal butane. When used in a steam cracker, normal butane is the preferred feedstock to maximize ethylene yields. To date, Honeywell's UOP has commissioned two Butamer units to produce normal butane and another 75 units to convert normal butane to isobutane.

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