UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that it has been selected by Zhejiang Julong Petrochemical Co. Ltd (ZJLPC) to provide key technology for a new unit to produce propylene at its facility in Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province, China. Honeywell's UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for the project. The unit is expected to start up in 2013 and to produce 450,000 metric tonnes of propylene per year.

China's propylene consumption accounts for more than 15 percent of worldwide demand and is growing at about 5 to 6 percent per year..

"This project is a significant milestone for UOP because it is the first propane dehydrogenation unit we have licensed in China," said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president for UOP's process technology and equipment business unit. "We are pleased to work with Zhejiang Julong Petrochemical on this project and to provide the technology that will help meet the world's growing propylene demand."

Bichao Lv, general manager for ZJLPC, said, "We look forward to working with UOP to adopt this technology at the Zhejiang Julong Petrochemical plant, which will add propylene to our product portfolio.".

The new propane dehydrogenation unit at the facility will use UOP's C3 Oleflex? technology to convert propane to propylene, a material used in the production of chemicals and materials such as films and packaging.

The UOP Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene. Compared to competing PDH processes, Oleflex technology provides the lowest cash cost of production and the highest return on investment, enabled by low operating and capital costs, high propylene yield and reliability, and maximum operating flexibility. Since the technology was commercialized in 1990, Honeywell's UOP has commissioned nine C3 Oleflex units for on-purpose propylene production. Earlier this year, UOP announced a similar project with Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co., also known as Takreer.