Clariant Catalysts and Lummus Technologies Win the Bid for the First PDH Project in India, Expanding the CATOFIN® Business Area

GAIL (India) Ltd to build India's first propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant using CATOFIN technology

· CATOFIN catalysts and technologies are rapidly taking the global PDH market by storm

· CATOFIN has the advantages of significantly improved productivity, reliability and ROI

Munich/Shanghai, October 22, 2021 – Clariant’s Catalysts business unit and its process partner Lummus Technology have won a major contract in India to continue expanding their reach in the PDH market
.
GAIL (India) Ltd has decided to build India's first PDH plant using Lummus Technology's CATOFIN process and Clariant's custom catalysts
.
The 500,000-ton-per-year propane dehydrogenation facility is located in Usar, Maharashtra, and is integrated with a downstream polypropylene (PP) unit
.
The $1.
2 billion PDH-PP project is expected to start operations in 2024
.

Since 2017, the vast majority of new PDH projects in the world have adopted CATOFIN technology, with up to 32 new plants and an annual propylene production capacity of more than 22 million tons
.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Clariant's Catalysts business unit, said: "We are extremely proud of the growing global demand for CATOFIN, which cannot
be achieved without the support of our long-term partner Lummus Technologies.
With this partnership, we have been able to combine cutting-edge PDH expertise with catalyst innovation to deliver exceptional performance and profitability for GAIL (India) Ltd.

"

Leon de Bruyn, President and CEO of Lummus Technologies, also said: "Considering the expected growth of the Indian petrochemical market, it is a great pleasure to secure the first PDH project in India
.
This project reflects the innovative strengths of Lummus's partnership with Clariant.

Lumms is very grateful to GAIL for the wise choice and will continue to work on delivering one of the best PDH processes, CATOFIN technology, to provide a reliable, optimized and low carbon production pathway to propylene
.
”

CATOFIN technology is a very reliable, high-yielding technology for the dehydrogenation of light paraffins
.
The process can be operated at the optimum reactor pressure and temperature to achieve maximum conversion and selectivity of propane to propylene while reducing capital and operating costs
.
The selectivity and yield of production units can be further improved by using Clariant's heat generating materials (HGMs), innovative metal oxides that generate heat and drive dehydrogenation reactions
.
Compared to other technologies, CATOFIN, due to its high reliability and production efficiency, results in excellent annual yields
.

These performance advantages were the main reasons why GAIL (India) chose CATOFIN technology and catalysts after an international tender process
.

GAIL (India) Limited is India's largest natural gas company and one of the seven Maharatna (Jumbo) Public Sector Enterprises (PSUs) under the Government of India
.
Founded in 1984 and headquartered in New Delhi, the company operates in various sectors in India and overseas such as transportation services, natural gas, petrochemicals, LPG and other liquid hydrocarbon products
.

High performance Clariant CATOFIN for selective dehydrogenation
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(Image credit: Clariant)