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UOP process technology licensed to produce isobutylene and isobutane in China

| By Mary Page Bailey

UOP LLC, a Honeywell (Morristown, N.J.; www.honeywell.com) company, has announced that its technologies have been selected to produce key ingredients for fuels and synthetic rubber in China.
 
China’s Lijin Petrochemical Plant Co. will use Honeywell’s UOP C4 Oleflex process to produce isobutylene, an important ingredient for fuels and synthetic rubber. This is UOP’s 15th Oleflex project in China in the past three years. Lijin Petrochemical also will use Honeywell’s UOP Butamer process, which converts normal butane into isobutane to increase feedstock flexibility for the UOP Oleflex process.
 
"As the need for fuels and petrochemical intermediates continues to grow around the globe, UOP is providing solutions that help producers meet local demand and capture a high return on their investment," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s UOP Process Technology and Equipment business unit. "UOP’s Oleflex technology will be used in China to produce about 1 million metric tons annually of isobutylene, and we look forward to working with Lijin to make this project a success."
 
The new unit, which is expected to start up in 2015, will produce 170,000 metric tons per tear (m.t./yr) of isobutylene product at its facility in Shandong Province, China. UOP will provide the engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training, and technical service for the project.
 
Honeywell UOP’s Butamer process converts normal butane to isobutane. The C4 Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert isobutane to isobutylene.