UOP technology selected for Romania’s synthetic rubber facility

Des Plaines-based UOP Ltd., a Honeywell company, announced 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 KLPT 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 program to upgrade their butadiene installation and increase production.

Butadiene demand — driven by growth in the replacement tire industry, and electronics and consumer markets — exceeded supply by 170 thousand metric tons 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,” said Pete Piotrowski, vice president and general manager of Honeywell’s UOP Process Technology and Equipment business unit. “As global demand for tires continues to grow, UOP’s technology allows producers to maximize yields with nearly 100 percent conversion of vinyl acetylene to butadiene.”

The KLP process increases the 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 the crude C4 feedstock. The contract includes licensing, engineering, technical support and catalysts.