Chemical Engineering June 2022 - 9

Improved propane dehydrogenation
dehydrogenation
B
ASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany;
www.basf.com)
and
thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH
(Dortmund, Germany; www.
thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions)
achieved measurable improvements in
the STAR process, a proprietary dehydrogenation
process from thyssenkrupp
Uhde that can produce propylene from
propane feedstocks, or iso-butylene
from iso-butane feedstocks. Beginning in
2020, thyssenkrupp Uhde focused on the
optimization and further development of
the STAR process, while BASF validated
the targeted improvements through an
extended test program. The technology
has been optimized to reduce CO2 emissions
and operating costs through lower
energy consumption by up to 30%, while
also reducing investment costs and enabling
additional feedstock savings.
ThyssenKrupp Uhde acquired the
STAR process and STAR catalyst technology
from Phillips Petroleum Co. in
1999. The company subsequently enhanced
the process by adding an oxysection
downstream
from
the conventional reactor. The STAR
catalyst is based on a zinc and calcium
aluminate support that, impregnated
with various metals, has excellent dehydrogenation
properties with high selectivity
at near equilibrium conversion and
is versatile in its application.
The STAR process (Chem. Eng., January
2014, p. 13) is said to have the highest
space-time yields of all propane
dehydrogenation technologies, and operates
at a reactor exit pressure of approximately
5.8 bars (higher than competing
technologies), thereby allowing
higher compressor suction pressures,
which significantly saves capital and operating
expenses on raw-gas compression.
Further, compared to other technologies,
the STAR process operates at
rather mild process temperatures (below
600°C), above which coke formation is
more severe and leads to higher de-activation
rates of the catalyst. Therefore,
the formation of unwanted side products
is minimized, says the company.
Global cement industry supports startups in
drive to achieve 'net zero' by 2050
Global CeL
ast
month,
the
ment
and Concrete Association
(GCCA; London, U.K.; https://
gccassociation.org) revealed the
first six startups that will be backed by
its member companies as part of the
first ever Innovandi " Open Challenge " in
the race to achieve " net zero " CO2 emissions
by 2050. The six start-ups, which
were chosen from more than 100 entrants
to the Open Challenge, have now
joined forces with world-leading cement
companies to help drive further innovation
in the industry and will each form
part of formal consortia to further test,
develop and deploy their ground-breaking
technologies, says GCCA.
One of the key focuses of the industry
is to develop the technology and implementation
for carbon capture, utilization
and storage (CCUS), with CarbonOrO
Products B.V. (Naardem-Vesting,
the Netherlands; www.carbonoro.com),
MOF Technologies (Belfast, U.K.; www.
moftechnologies.com) and Saipem
S.p.A. (San Donato Milanese, Italy; www.
saipem.com) among the start-ups that
the industry is backing. GCCA members
have committed to moving from the dozens
of pilot projects and announcements
already underway to having ten industrialthe
company. Thanks to the extreme
durability of the material,
the printed components are well
suited for most industries looking
to optimize production efficiency.
Ohlsson also emphasizes that
3D printing speeds up time-tomarket
dramatically.
Traditionally,
cemented carbide is manufactured
with powder metallurgy,
where a powder is compressed
under high pressure into a green
body, which is then sintered, explains
Ohlsson. " We instead use
binder jet technology - we create
the green body by fusing the
powder with glue. Using conventional
component-manufacturing
techniques, prototyping can
take six to twelve months. Now,
our lead time to date is a matter
of weeks. "
PLANT-REDUCED INDIGO
scale carbon-capture plants by 2030 as
part of the landmark Net Zero Roadmap,
announced in October 2021. CCUS includes
a range of technologies and
methods that " capture " CO2 from large
sources - such as in industrial power
generation. The CO2 is then either used
on site or compressed and transported
to be used or stored elsewhere.
Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CalCanada;
www.carbonupcycling.
com) and Fortera Corp. (San Jose, Calif;
www.forterausa.com) both use captured
CO2 to produce low-carbon cement and
cementitious materials. The other confirmed
start-up is Coomtech Ltd. (Welney,
Norfolk, U.K.; www.coomtech.com),
which has developed a low-cost drying
technology using kinetic energy created
by managed, turbulent air.
Six newly established consortia will
help to accelerate the development of
technologies that reduce or eliminate
carbon throughout the cement and
concrete value chain. Each consortium
is made up of a startup company, with
their respective pioneering technology,
and includes between three and eight
cement companies, with 16 GCCA
member companies involved across the
six innovation consortia.
gary,
n
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
JUNE 2022
Archroma (Pratteln, Switzerland;
www.archroma.com) and Stony
Creek Colors (Springfield, Tenn.;
www.stonycreekcolors.com) have
entered a strategic partnership to
produce and bring to the market
Stony Creek's IndiGold highperformance
plant-based pre-reduced
indigo at scale. Stony Creek
extracts its dye from proprietary
Indigofera plant varieties grown in
partnership with family farms as a
regenerative rotational crop.
Stony Creek Colors developed
the new IndiGold concept as the
world's first pre-reduced natural
indigo dye, which was then developed
with Archroma to offer
the first ever plant-based alternative
to synthetic pre-reduced
indigo. The dyestuff will be sold
as a 20% concentration in a
soluble liquid form that displays
similar performance to comparable
synthetic-indigo products
available on the market.
Stony Creek Colors evolved into
a leader in plant-based indigo due
to its complete development of an
improved agricultural value chain,
from seed breeding and production
to biomass harvest and extraction.
The company has been
selling
its U.S.-grown indigo to
denim mills since 2015.
Archroma will produce the first
batches of IndiGold in Salvatierra,
Mexico, and has other locations
where the product could be
made. The company will support
Stony Creek Colors through its
manufacturing and logistics capabilities,
and its expertise in denim
dyeing with customers using prereduced
indigo.
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9
http://www.basf.com http://www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com http://www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com http://www.archroma.com http://www.stonycreekcolors.com http://www.gccassociation.org http://www.gccassociation.org http://www.carbonupcycling.com http://www.carbonupcycling.com http://www.forterausa.com http://www.coomtech.com http://www.carbonoro.com http://www.moftechnologies.com http://www.saipem.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2022
