10-01-2012

Honeywell’s UOP selected to provide technology for petrochemicals production in South Korea

Facility will use UOP technology to produce building block materials for plastics to support growing demand. UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that it has been selected by South Korea’s Kumho P&B Chemicals, Inc. to provide technology to produce key petrochemicals for the manufacture of plastics.

Honeywell’s UOP Q-Max™ and UOP Phenol™ process technologies will be integrated at Kumho’s Yeosu, South Korea, facility to produce high-quality phenol. According to industry consultants, the demand for materials produced using these petrochemicals is forecasted to grow in Asia by as much as 9 percent annually over the next five years, driven by demand for automobiles, appliances and electronics.

 “We’re pleased to continue to grow UOP’s long-standing relationship with Kumho and for the opportunity to work with them on our largest cumene production unit to date,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president for Process Technology and Equipment at Honeywell’s UOP. “As worldwide petrochemicals demand increases, Honeywell’s UOP will continue to offer the advanced technology needed to maximize production quality and capacity to support these needs.”

The new units, expected to start up in 2013-2014, will produce 900,000 metric tons of cumene and 300,000 metric tons of phenol annually. Honeywell’s UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents and technical service for the project.

The UOP Q-Max process produces high-quality cumene through the alkylation of benzene with propylene. The cumene is subsequently converted to high-quality phenol, with low feedstock and utility requirements, using the UOP Phenol process.

The UOP Q-Max process uses a robust and efficient catalyst system, which maximizes on-stream time, and minimizes raw material and energy consumption. To date, the total licensed UOP Q-Max production capacity exceeds 5.8 million metric tons per year. The low temperature/pressure and low intermediate inventory design of the UOP Phenol process is inherently safer, more economical to build, easier to operate, and provides higher product yields than competitive technologies. UOP’s total licensed phenol production capacity exceeds 3.4 million metric tons per year.

Founded in 1976, Kumho P&B Chemicals, Inc. specializes in the production of phenol and its derivatives, and leads the Asian phenol industry. The company is based in Yeosu, South Korea, and is a subsidiary of Korea’s Kumho Petrochemical Company.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com