Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) signed a partnership agreement with China’s Wison Engineering Ltd. (Shanghai, China: www.wison.com) to jointly provide methanol-to-olefin (MTO) technologies and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to customers outside of China.
Honeywell UOP’s Advanced MTO technology converts methanol from coal or natural gas into the olefins that form the basis for many types of plastic resins, films and fibers. It is a rapidly growing technology in regions rich in coal or natural gas but poor in crude oil, and that have high demand for plastics.
Wison Engineering is developing opportunities for the MTO technology, particularly in countries included in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, covering the historic trading route that stretches from China, through central Asia to Western Europe.
“The Belt and Road initiative promises to raise the level of connectivity, cooperation and trade between dozens of nations that have traded with China for thousands of years,” said Rebecca Liebert, president and CEO of Honeywell UOP. “Honeywell is working with China’s leading enterprises to bring economic development to these countries through its broad clean energy and chemicals technologies.”
“We are excited to work with Honeywell UOP to bring the Advanced MTO technology to customers in countries that traditionally have traded with China for centuries,” said Li Yansheng, Chief Engineer of Wison Engineering. “MTO is an innovative technology that enables coal- and gas-rich regions in Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and as far as Europe and Africa, to make plastics from their own coal and natural gas.
MTO technology allows countries and regions that are rich in coal or natural gas to cost-effectively and efficiently convert these resources into valuable petrochemicals with high yield, at the lowest cost of production and lowest catalyst consumption.