LUXI Chemical Group Co., Ltd. will use Honeywell UOP’s (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins (MTO) process to convert methanol derived from gasified coal into 293,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of ethylene and propylene at its facility in Liaocheng, Shandong Province, China. The operations will be managed by a suite of automation and control technologies from Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS; Houston; www.honeywellprocess.com).
Global demand for ethylene and propylene is growing 4 to 5% per year. Traditionally, these petrochemicals are produced from crude oil. The MTO process allows producers in regions without abundant domestic supplies of crude to produce key plastic ingredients from natural gas or coal, which are often more abundant and cheaper.
“The technology to turn methanol from coal into plastics has been well-proven in China, which is expected to invest more than $100 billion in coal-to-chemicals technology in the next five years,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “Eight companies in China have chosen UOP’s Advanced MTO technology, representing a total capacity of nearly 3.2 million metric tons per year.”