Germany’s Evonik, Jilin authorities sign license for HPPO facility

SHANGHAI (ICIS)--German specialty chemicals producer Evonik and representatives of the delegation of Jilin province have signed a non-exclusive license agreement to build and operate a hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide (HPPO) plant at Jilin in northeast China, Evonik said in a statement on Thursday.

Under the license agreement, Jilin Shenhua and Jilin North Chemical Company will enter into a proposed joint venture to build a 300,000 tonne/year HPPO production facility, the statement said.

The plant will produce PO using a process developed by Evonik and German engineering company Uhde, it added.

"Our strength to develop new and innovative technologies is impressively documented by the second successful licensing of the HPPO procedure,” said Klaus Engel, a member of Evonik’s executive board.

Evonik’s proprietary HPPO technology was first licensed in 2008 to South Korea’s SKC, which operates the world’s first industrial-scale HPPO plant at Ulsan with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes/year.

Earlier this year, Evonik signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian chemical company Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals for a similar project using the same process.

According to Evonik, HPPO technology is environmentally friendly and consumes less energy as it requires fewer raw materials compared with other traditional measures such as chlorohydrin and PO/styrene monomer technologies.

PO is a raw material for manufacturing polyurethane, which is used mainly for building insulation, furniture upholstery, and lightweight motor vehicle construction.