Honeywell unit to provide technology for US petrochemical plant

UOP, a subsidiary of Honeywell International, has been selected by The Dow Chemical Company to provide technology to convert shale gas-derived propane into propylene at a petrochemical facility in Texas.

The facility, which will be completed in 2015, will produce 750,000t of polymer-grade propylene annually using Honeywell UOP C3 Oleflex technology.

UOP senior vice-president for process technology and equipment Pete Piotrowski said that there is a unique opportunity in the current market where shale gas development drives lower prices and greater availability of propane as a feedstock for petrochemicals.

“This, along with global growth in propylene demand, makes the Oleflex process a highly attractive solution,” said Piotrowski.

Propylene is used to produce packaging, adhesives, coatings, cleaners and other end-use applications.

The UOP CCR continuous catalyst regeneration technology is used by the Oleflex process to dehydrogenate propane to propylene over a platinum catalyst.

UOP said it has commissioned nine C3 Oleflex units for on-purpose propylene production since its commercialisation in 1990, and a tenth unit will start up in Russia this year.

The company also claims that the Oleflex technology provides the lowest cost of production, compared with other propane dehydrogenation processes.

US-based UOP is a supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries.