Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant and US engineering contractor CB&I have been awarded a contract by Dongguan Grand Resource Science & Technology to jointly develop a new high-efficiency propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at Dongguan City in China’s Guangdong Province. The project includes the license and engineering design of the unit.

The Dongguan plant, which will use a design based on CB&I's Catofin technology using Clariant's tailor-made Catofin catalyst and heat generating material (HGM), will be one of the world’s largest single-train dehydrogenation units, according to the Swiss group. Catofin technology continues to demonstrate low cost of production while providing proven reliability and flexibility to our customers, CB&I said.

In the Catofin dehydrogenation process, isobutylene, propylene or amylenes are produced from isobutene, propane or isopentanes respectively. To maximize the conversion of propane and generate a high yield of propylene, the process operates at optimum reactor pressure and temperature, which is said to result in low investment and operating costs.

Integration of HGM, an innovative metal-oxide material designed to significantly increase the selectivity and yield of Catofin units in the Catofin process, is claimed to further enhance the performance advantages. HGM is already being used in other PDH plants in China and Korea.