09-11-2018

TechnipFMC signs agreement to license Sumitomo HCI oxidation technology

TechnipFMC announced today that it has signed an exclusive collaboration agreement with Sumitomo Chemical Company to license and engineer Sumitomo’s hydrogen chloride (HCI) oxidation technology. The technology is used to produce chlorine via the catalytic oxidation of hydrogen chloride.

Chlorine is utilized in a variety of petrochemical processes while hydrogen chloride is often an unwanted byproduct from those same processes. The HCl oxidation technology provides a route for recycling chlorine gas from hydrogen chloride.

The technology uses a unique oxidation catalyst and proprietary reactor system to produce chlorine at high conversion rates. The process requires very little external utilities compared to other options for producing chlorine, in line with the sustainability approach of the company. Pioneered by Sumitomo Chemical Company, the process has started up in seven trains located in eastern Asia and Europe.

This agreement brings together Sumitomo’s expertise in oxidation catalyst and reactor design with TechnipFMC’s global strength in technology licensing, engineering design, and procurement.

Stan Knez, President, Process Technology, for TechnipFMC, stated: “This HCI oxidation technology will be of interest to clients who want to avoid the high-power requirements of alternative technologies for producing chlorine. We are pleased to add it to our expanding onshore process technology portfolio.”

TechnipFMC’s operating center in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, a center of excellence for petrochemicals, will license the HCI oxidation technology. The center is part of TechnipFMC Process Technology, a global network of centers which manages the company’s expanding portfolio of onshore process technologies in petrochemicals, refining, hydrogen and syngas, polymers, gas monetization and renewables.