12-04-2023

Honeywell’s largest high performance Oleflex Unit continues successful operation at Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemicals Company

Honeywell has announced that the world’s largest High Performance Oleflex unit at Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co., LTD continues to produce 700,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene at its Lianyungang City plant in China’s Jiangsu Province. Propylene is the primary component in a variety of products including plastics, carpets, and moisture wicking fabric that are rapidly growing in demand.

The Honeywell UOP Oleflex process is used to produce light olefins through the catalytic dehydrogenation of light paraffin and provides users with an on-purpose source of polymer grade propylene and/or isobutylene. Coupled with Honeywell UOP’s DeH-16 high yield, high activity paraffin dehydrogenation catalyst, Sailboat’s low severity High Performance Oleflex unit continues to demonstrate low feed and energy consumption with low coke yield – lending itself to more stable, long-term operation. The Honeywell UOP Oleflex technology is a low-energy consumption, lower-emission technology that utilises a catalyst with recyclable platinum with lower environmental impacts relative to comparable alternatives.

“Our Sailboat propane dehydration unit is the first low severity High Performance Oleflex unit in China. Additional collaboration with Honeywell on the intelligent and digital aspects of the unit include a first-in-China proprietary carbon emission system which allows for real-time computing and monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions from the PDH daily operation,” said Oleflex Project Leader, Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemicals Co. “Sailboat can achieve the best production cost and the lowest carbon emission while maintaining the leading position in propane dehydrogenation thanks to Honeywell’s High Performance Oleflex design and DeH-16 catalyst.”

“Through the use of Honeywell’s High Performance Oleflex unit and DeH-16 catalyst, Sailboat’s Oleflex unit can achieve lower feed and energy consumption and reduce direct carbon dioxide emissions based on carbon regeneration,” said Eric Seidel, vice president and general manager, Honeywell UOP Lifecycle Solutions and Technologies. “Our ready-now Oleflex technology and catalysts can allow companies like Sailboat to contribute to the transformation and upgrading of the national manufacturing industry.”

Sailboat successfully commissioned its High Performance Oleflex unit in 2022 and achieved the complementary advantages of its two Honeywell UOP licensed technologies, Methanol to Olefins (MTO) and Oleflex in production of propylene. This combination gives Sailboat the flexibility to adjust the production capacity of MTO and propane dehydration (PDH) units according to the market conditions of methanol and propane to further reduce cost, increase efficiency and profitability. Sailboat owns one of 40 operating Oleflex units and one of seven operating MTO units, globally.

Honeywell recently committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. This commitment builds on the company’s track record of sharply reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. About 60% of Honeywell’s new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.