Degussa, Krupp to commercialise new PO process in 2003
04 January 2001 14:18 [Source: ICIS news]
LONDON (CNI)--German specialty chemicals company Degussa-Huls
and compatriot engineering firm Krupp Uhde said Thursday they
expect to begin commercialising their new propylene oxide (PO)
process in 2003.
The companies announced earlier today an agreement to co-operate
on the development of the new process, which produces PO through
the catalytic oxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide
(H2O2).
A Krupp Uhde spokesman said they plan to finish developing the
process and begin commercialisation from mid- to end-2003.
Licensing revenues will be split 50:50 between the two
companies.
He said a small joint venture pilot plant is currently under
construction at Degussa's site in Hanau-Wolfgang, near Frankfurt
and is due onstream in the next few weeks. It will produce
approximately 0.5-5 kg/hour (4-40 tonne/year).
Degussa-Huls, which is a major H2O2
producer, said the new PO process will require 0.7 tonne of
H2O2 to produce 1 tonne PO. The global market
for PO was about 4.7m tonne in 2000 and is currently growing at
about 4-5% per year, with the highest growth rates in Asia, it
said.
Degussa-Huls has the capacity to produce 430 000 tonne/year of
H2O2 from plants in Germany, Belgium,
Austria, the US, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa.
PO is currently manufactured primarily through the chlorohydrine
process, which produces a chlorine-containing waste liquor, and the
PO/styrene monomer (SM) process, which generates large quantities
of SM as a co-product. It is used primarily in the production of
polyurethane (PU) and polyester resin raw materials.
The Krupp spokesman said the new technology could possibly be
retrofitted into existing PO plants which use the chlorohydrine
process, but this would need to be investigated. The technology
would not be suitable for retrofitting into PO/SM facilities.
ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009
Author: Anna Jagger+1 713 525 2653
For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial
to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.
Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free
trial to ICIS Chemical Business.
Links posted in this story: