DES PLAINES, Ill. (Aug. 8, 2012)—Honeywell's UOP Ltd. unit said its process has been selected to help boost yields at Romania's largest synthetic rubber production facility.
The company's UOP KLP process to purify butadiene will be used by Energy Bio-Chemicals' Carom Onesti SBR plant in Romania. The project is part of the company's modernization program to upgrade its butadiene installation and increase production.
Demand for butadiene, used to produce synthetic rubber, exceeded 170,000 thousand metric tons in 2011. The growth was driven by the tire industry as well as the electronics and consumer markets, according to Honeywell. The firm said Europe and the Middle East make up more than a quarter of the 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 Process Technology and Equipment business unit.
The process is designed to help increase the yield of butadiene, while also eliminating the byproduct acetylene, which can become an explosion hazard, according to Honeywell. It also adds hydrogen to acetylenes, which increases the butadiene yields an additional 1.5 to 2 percent, according to the company.
Honeywell said there are eight KLP units in production globally, with total annual production capacity of more than 1 million metric tons.