Clariant & Chicago Bridge and Iran Company to develop dehydrogenation unit in Dalian, China

China: Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery awarded a contract to Clariant and CB&I (Chicago Bridge and Iran Company) to develop a propane and butane dehydrogenation unit in Dalian, China. Under the project, the two companies would be designing and licensing the co-processing unit. Wherein, Catofin catalytic dehydrogenation technology would be provided by CB&I and custom-made Catofin catalyst and heat generating material (HGM) would be provided by Clariant. The plant would process 0.3 million tons of propane and 0.6 million tons of isobutene feedstock annually for the production of propylene and isobutylene. The metal-oxide material, that is, HGM has been included in the Catofin process so as improve the performance of process by increasing the selectivity and yield of Catofin units.

TechSci Research depicts that petrochemical companies are focusing on technological innovations with economical edge over other processes. The plant is expected to emerge as the largest single train dehydrogenation unit globally.

According to TechSci Research report, “Global Butadiene Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020”, steam cracking is the most preferred technology for production of butadiene globally. However, dehydrogenation technology is gaining grounds for the production of butadiene with majority chunk of the production concentrated in Asian countries, China in particular.