Issue 46/2012 - Progress of propane dehydrogenation technology and analysis of project economy

Progress of propane dehydrogenation technology and project economic analysis

Industrial applications are maturing

Propylene is second only to ethylene important petrochemical basic raw materials, in addition to the synthesis of polypropylene (PP), propylene can also be made into acrylonitrile, isopropanol, phenol and acetone, acrylic acid and its esters and many other downstream products, is gradually replacing traditional materials such as steel, wood, cotton and cotton products, in the long run, domestic and foreign market demand is still strong, with propane dehydrogenation technology tends to mature, especially in recent years, with the development of the world's unconventional natural resources have made breakthroughs, obtaining long-term, stable, relatively low propane resources may become possible Propane dehydrogenation to propylene project has a strong competitiveness, triggering giants to invest, become a hot spot for the development of the industry, propane dehydrogenation to propylene technology has a history of more than 20 years, after continuous improvement, industrial application is becoming more and more mature, has been industrialized,
and has become the third largest propylene production route
。 The main processes include UOP's Oleflex process continuous moving bed process technology, Lummus-Houdry's Catofin process cycle multi-reactor process technology, Wood's Krupp Uhdewcng company's STAR process and Snamprogetti's PDH process
jointly developed with Linde-BASF-Statoil 。 At present, the industrialized production process of propane dehydrogenation to propylene is the Oleflex process of UOP and the Catofin process
of ABB Lummus Global of the United States.
The two propane dehydrogenation to propylene production processes are basically the same, but only the dehydrogenation and catalyst regeneration parts
.

There are 14 sets of propylene dehydrogenation to propylene industrial plants in the world, of which 10 sets use UOP's Oleflex process and 4 sets are ABB Lummus' Catofin process
.
There are more than 20 sets of plants in production or under construction worldwide, and the production capacity will reach more than 6.
7 million tons
after completion.

●UOP's Oleflex process Oleflex process
was developed by UOP in the 80s of the last century, first industrialized in Thailand in 1990, and in April 1997, the combined plant of 250,000 tons of propylene was put into production in South Korea using the second-generation Oleflex technology
.
At present, the total production capacity of Oleflex propane dehydrogenation to propylene in the world is 2.
5 million tons
.
The process flow diagram of the Oleflex combined unit is shown in Figure 1
.

●Lummus Catofin process
Catofin process is the C3~C5 alkane dehydrogenation production monoolefin technology
developed by ABB Lummus.
Currently, 10 companies around the world use the Catofin process to produce olefins, producing more than 3.
2 million tonnes
.
ABB Lummus' Catofin process flow is shown in Figure 2
.

●Propane dehydrogenation process technology comparison ABB-Lummus Catofin and UOP's Oleflex propane dehydrogenation process and several other processes technology comparison
is shown in Table 1
.

Table 1 Comparison of various propane dehydrogenation process technologies