DES PLAINES, US: UOP Ltd, a Honeywell company, announced that its technology has been selected to boost yields at Romania’s largest synthetic rubber production facility. Romania’s Energy Bio-Chemicals will use Honeywell’s UOP KLP process to purify butadiene, a monomer used to produce synthetic rubber, at the company’s CAROM Onesti Styrene Butadiene Rubber facility. The project is part of the company’s modernization investment programme to upgrade their butadiene installation and increase production.
Butadiene demand exceeded supply by 170 thousand metric tonne in 2011, according to the May 2012 Chemsystem Nexant report. Currently, Europe and the Middle East together are responsible for more than a quarter of the global butadiene demand. “UOP is committed to technologies that help refining and petrochemical producers maximize their yields. As global demand for tires continues to grow, UOP’s technology allows producers to maximize yields with nearly 100 per cent conversion of vinyl acetylene to butadiene,” said Pete Piotrowski, Vice President and General Manager, Process Technology and Equipment business unit, UOP.
The KLP process increases yield of butadiene, while also eliminating acetylene, a difficult-to-handle and unwanted byproduct, from the process. UOP will also provide a proprietary Caustic Merox unit to remove sulphur from crude C4 feedstock. The contract includes licensing, engineering, technical support and catalysts.
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