China’s Jilin Connell Chemical Industry has selected Honeywell UOP’s Advanced Methanol-to-Olefins (MTO) process for a new plant that will convert local coal resources into ethylene and propylene. Located in Jilin City, Jilin province, the plant will produce 300,000 t/y of ethylene and propylene, which will be supplied to producers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide operating in the same industrial complex. Completion is scheduled for 2017.

“This technology has the highest yield of ethylene and propylene with the lowest consumption of methanol and catalysts, as well as the lowest operating and capital costs of any methanol-to-olefins solutions,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. At the heart of the technology are UOP’s proprietary catalysts, which make it possible to adjust the output ratio of ethylene and propylene to meet fluctuating market demand.

The New-Jersey based engineering company said global demand for ethylene and propylene is growing at an annual rate of 4-5%, driven by strong demand for plastics and chemicals, particularly in China, which is expected to invest more than $100 billion in coal-to-chemicals technology in the next five years. Jilin Connell Chemical Industry is the ninth company to license Honeywell UOP’s technology, following China’s Luxi Chemical Group in December 2015.