Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., has tapped Honeywell’s UOP LLC, based in Des Plaines, Ill., to provide technology to produce propylene at a Dow site in Texas. The Oleflex technology will be used in a new propane dehydrogenation unit to convert shale gas-derived propane to propylene, a product used in the production of packaging, adhesives, coatings, cleaners and other end-use applications. The facility will produce 826,725 tons per year of polymer-grade propylene. Slated for a 2015 startup, the plant will be the first of its type in the United States and the largest single-train propane dehydrogenation plant in North America, according to UOP.
“There is a unique opportunity in today’s market where shale gas development is driving lower prices and greater availability of propane as a feedstock for petrochemicals,” says Pete Piotrowski, UOP’s senior vice president for process technology and equipment. Dow says it is the largest consumer of propylene in non-polypropylene applications.
The Oleflex process uses UOP continuous catalyst regeneration technology to dehydrogenate propane to propylene over a platinum catalyst. Compared with alternative propane dehydrogenation processes, Oleflex provides a low-cash production cost and high return on investment due to low operating and capital costs, minimum plot area requirements, excellent scalability, high propylene yield and maximum operating flexibility, UOP says.
