Air Liquide Engineering & Construction (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.engineering-airliquide.com) has signed a cooperation agreement with Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (MCC; Tokyo. Japan; www.m-chemical.co.jp) to license MCC’s butene-to-crude-butadiene technology used in the petrochemical industry.
MCC has developed this state-of-the art oxidative dehydrogenation technology of n-butene to produce crude butadiene and verified the viability in a demonstration plant at MCC Mizushima, Japan (for more details, see Chem. Eng., September 2014, pp. 19–24; www.chemengonline.com/the-future-of-butadiene).
Butadiene is an important industrial chemical used in many day-to-day products, mainly as synthetic rubber for the automotive industry. Butadiene can also be used as a raw material for the production of products such as polymers, plastics and paper chemicals.
Air Liquide Engineering & Construction can now offer its customers a unique integrated solution for both, butene dehydrogenation and butadiene extraction. This allows to extend the production of butadiene from the conventional extraction from a naphtha cracker product to on-purpose production based on a wider range of feedstocks.
Air Liquide Engineering and Construction is a worldwide recognized butadiene licensor with 37 references and it’s capabilities in custom-made design and engineering of butadiene units have been recognized as a benchmark in the industry, providing production reliability, low energy consumption and product quality.
Domenico D’Elia, vice president and chairman of Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, says, “Partnership with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation is yet another important step to enhance our integrated offer in butadiene technology licensing. The combination of high-quality solutions in addition to our existing technology portfolio will create sustainable alternative production routes to our customers and create value over the long-term’’.
Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation takes its position as one of the world’s top chemical companies and has a long history not only as a high quality petrochemical products manufacturer, but also as a licensor for reliable petrochemical technologies and a broad range of high performing catalysts.