15/07/2011
A Chinese firm has selected a Honeywell subsidiary's technology in what will be the first commercial-scale installation of its advanced methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process for the production of petrochemicals from coal and natural gas, with initial plans for 295,000 tonnes/yr of ethylene and propylene production.
Wison (Nanjing) Clean Energy Company Ltd. will receive technology licenses, basic engineering, catalysts, adsorbents, specialty equipment, and technical services from Honeywell subsidiary, UOP LLC (Des Plaines, IL), with startup slated for 2013. UOP estimates that by 2020, 20% of the world's propylene will come from on-purpose technology instead of as a byproduct of other refining activities.
This technology is a hybrid of sorts, combining the UOP/Hydro MTO process with Total Petrochemicals/UOP Olefin Cracking Process, with the goal of allowing producers in countries with limited supplies of crude oil, but plentiful quantities of coal or natural gas, to produce high-value petrochemicals....