French technology provider Axens has been awarded a contract by Borouge to supply units for methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), 1-butene and 1-hexene. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The plants will comprise part of the Borouge 4 project in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, and will produce 124,000 t/y MTBE, 50,000 t/y 1-butene and 75,000 t/y high-purity 1-hexene. Axens’ AlphaHexol process will use ethylene trimerization to produce 1-hexene suitable for use as a co-monomer for various types of PE, including LLDPE or HDPE.

Downstream of the new complex’s steam cracker, which will have an ethylene capacity of 1.8 million t/y, Axens will also supply a methyl acetylene/propadiene unit, a C4 hydrogenation unit and a pygas 2-stages hydrogenation unit.

Borouge plans to more than double its current capacity of 4.5 million t/y by 2030.

In separate news, Axens has formed a licensing alliance with ExxonMobil, allowing it to provide the US energy giant’s Flexicoking technology.

Under the agreement, the Paris-headquartered firm has been granted the worldwide rights to market, license and provide engineering work and technical support for the design, construction and start-up of new Flexicoking units.

Flexicoking technology is a continuous fluidized bed process that thermally converts heavy feeds to lighter products and flexigas and, said Axens, is an ideal option to meet the new International Maritime Organization 2020 fuel standards.

“In particular, Flexicoking offers a robust, capital and energy efficient process compared to installing a delayed coker unit and an independent gasifier complex for power or fuel gas production,” said Dan Moore, president of ExxonMobil Catalyst and Licensing. “By combining our owner-operator experience with Axens’ strong licensing and engineering expertise, we are able to provide advanced technologies to help meet refinery and crude-to-chemical-complex customer needs.”