China’s Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Company (Jiaxing, Zhejiang) in late December became the first of 14 producers to bring on stream a new propylene facility powered by the C3 Oleflex technology of Honeywell (Morris Township, New Jersey / USA; www.honeywell.com) subsidiary UOP (Des Plaines, Illinois / USA; www.uop.com).

The Zhejiang-based company is producing on-spec at its 450,000 t/y facility in Pinghu City, output of which will go towards producing acrylic acid and derivatives, Honeywell said. “China’s propylene consumption accounts for more than 15% of worldwide demand and is growing at about 5-6% per year,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business.

Propylene has traditionally been a by-product of ethylene but a shift in the way the latter is produced has resulted in less C3 hitting the global market. In response, investments in technologies to create propylene from propane have increased. All in all, UOP says it has licensed its C3 Oleflex technology to more than a dozen producers to meet rising demand, many of which are located in China. They include Guangdong Peng Zun Energy Development Co and Ningbo Fortune Petrochemical, among others, who both plan to start up new facilities in 2016 (see Plasteurope.com of 02.06.2014).