China’s Hengli starts up world’s largest dehydrogenation plant using Catofin tech

Chinese chemicals maker Hengli Group has started up what is said to be the world’s largest on-purpose olefin production plant with a capacity of 1 million tonnes/year. The mixed-feed dehydrogenation plant in Dalian, China, is utilising Swiss chemical firm Clariant’s Catofin catalyst.

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The new unit combines propane dehydrogenation (PDH) with iso-butane dehydrogenation (BDH) process technologies, and it will produce over 1 million tons of olefins/year — becoming the world’s largest plant using Catofic catalyst technology.

The process pairs Clariant’s Catofin catalyst together with McDermott’s Lummus process technology and is proven to enable high reliability and yields, cost efficiency and simplicity, according to Clariant. In addition to the Catofin catalyst, the facility is using Clariant’s innovative Heat Generating Material (HGM) to produce its on-purpose olefins.

Founded in 1994, Hengli Group is one of China’s foremost suppliers of petrochemicals. Hengli’s new dehydrogenation plant in Dalian, China is designed to process 500 kilotonnes/year of propane and 800 kilotonnes/year of iso-butane feeds to produce propylene and iso-butylene.

Catofin is a technology for light paraffin dehydrogenation. Operating at thermodynamically-advantaged reactor pressure and temperature to maximise yield, the process relies on Clariant’s Catofin catalyst and the company’s patented metal-oxide HGM to deliver high conversion rates.

With the start-up of the Hengli plant, this now marks Clariant’s 21st Catofin unit in operation, totalling over 9 million tonnes of olefin production capacity globally.