Chemical Engineering September 2014 - 19

The Dow Chemical Company
Newsfront
The fuTure of buTadiene
Butadiene scarcity imposed by the shift toward
ethane cracking provides opportunities for the
development of new technologies
T
he chemical process industries
(CPI) have experienced many
benefits from the so-called
shale-gas boom - recent years
have seen an unprecedented rise in
construction and expansion activity
in the petrochemicals sector. Shown
in Figure 1 is construction at the
Freeport, Tex. facility of The Dow
Chemical Company (Dow; Midland,
Mich.; www.dow.com). Dow is just
one of many companies to initiate
large petrochemical projects on the
U.S. Gulf Coast in the wake of increased
shale-gas availability.
" We are in the midst of unprecedented
growth due to the abundance
of natural gas liquids, " explains Bob
Maughon, Dow's global R&D director
for performance plastics and
feedstocks. " The use of natural-gas
liquids took hold in 2009. In 2011
and 2012, the abundance of ethane
compelled the industry to flex
strongly toward natural-gas feedstocks
and away from petroleumderived
naphtha. "
Since this shift, though, the
changing feedstock landscape in petroleum
refineries has led to shortages
for many co-products, including
1,3-butadiene (butadiene; Figure
2), an important building block for
synthetic rubber and nylon. Says
Maughon: " As naphtha cracking
has waned and ethane cracking
increases, cracker co-product production
drops. The slate of products
that have been affected include propylene,
butadiene, isoprene, benzene
and others. It isn't that the
industry doesn't want to produce
these chemicals. The economics of
ethane-only cracking have become
so compelling that naphtha cracking
has been squeezed. Production
is driven to the lighter feedstocks
and co-product production is lost. "
Figure 3 shows the variation in
production from naphtha-cracking
operations versus the cracking of
lighter feedstocks. The shale-gasimposed
scarcity for chemicals like
butadiene presents opportunities
for new technologies to arise. This
article covers some actions that
companies are taking in response
to butadiene shortages, including
the development of on-purpose
production methods and the use of
bio-based feedstocks.
Oxidative dehydrogenation
TPC Group Inc. (Houston; www.tpcgrp.com),
has been commercially operating
its OXO-D butadiene process
technology for over 40 years. TPC's
OXO-D technology converts butylenes
into butadiene through oxidative
dehydrogenation. In June 2014,
TPC announced a partnership with
Honeywell's UOP LLC (Des Plains,
Ill.; www.uop.com) to further develop
and globally license this technology
in the wake of increased demand for
on-purpose butadiene. There will be
research and development teams
and pilot plants at both companies'
facilities to jointly develop process
advancements. Also, through this
agreement, UOP acquires the worldwide
exclusive licensing rights of the
TPC OXO-D process.
Jim Rekoske, petrochemicals
Figure 1. New construction (like that
at Dow's Freeport complex) is rampant as
the industry takes advantage of the shalegas
boom
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Figure 2. 1,3-butadiene is a major coproduct
from naphtha cracking, and is experiencing
shortages due to the newfound
dependence on lighter refining feedstocks
global business director for UOP,
describes what attracted UOP to
this partnership, saying " A key distinguishing
feature of the OXO-D
process is the more than 40 years of
operating experience. This operating
experience allows TPC and UOP
to understand and position on-purpose
butadiene technology for our
licensing customers. " Rekoske goes
on to emphasize that timing is key
for this collaboration, stating that
" This is not a technology that needs
a long development period or a long
market incubation period - the opportunities
are now. "
Both companies stress the importance
of on-purpose butadiene production
going forward - demand
for butadiene-based products, such
as tires, is rising, as traditional
feedstocks are becoming less readily
available. " Lighter feedstock
slate means, on average, fewer kilograms
of butadiene produced per
metric ton of ethylene produced.
On-purpose butadiene technologies
will be needed to fill this gap, "
explains Rekoske.
With the ongoing flurry of activities
in the shale-gas sector, TPC
Group sees global potential for the
licensing of the OXO-D process.
Miguel Desdin, senior vice president
and chief financial officer of
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com September 2014 19
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http://www.dow.com http://www.tp http://www.cgrp.com http://www.uop.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering September 2014

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