Thailand's IRPC To Build Large Aromatics Complex With Honeywell Technology

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May 24, 2018, 10:03 ET

DES PLAINES, Ill., May 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that IRPC PLC will use a range of advanced process technologies from Honeywell UOP for a new aromatics complex in Thailand's Rayong Province.

As part of the project, Honeywell UOP will provide licensing, design, key equipment and state-of-the-art catalysts and adsorbents. When completed in 2022, the complex will produce 1.2 million metric tons per year of paraxylene used to make plastic resins, films and fibers. It also will increase its benzene production capacity from 114,000 to 495,000 tons per year. Benzene is a fuel additive and ingredient in plastics, lubricants, rubber, dyes and detergents.

"This complex will enable IRPC to significantly convert its available intermediate feedstocks to higher value aromatics products such as paraxylene and benzene," said John Gugel, vice president and general manager, Process Technology and Equipment, at Honeywell UOP. "This is the latest in a series of aromatics projects using advanced UOP technologies that have low capital and operating expense."

The project will include a Honeywell UOP CCR Platforming™ unit, which converts naphtha into high-octane gasoline and aromatics, and an LD Parex™ unit, which recovers high-purity paraxylene from mixed xylenes and uses a new, more energy efficient light desorbent. The complex also will include Honeywell UOP Sulfolane™ technology to extract aromatics from the feed; Isomar™ technology to convert xylene isomers into more valuable paraxylene; and Tatoray™ technology, which converts toluene and C₉ aromatics into mixed xylenes and high-purity benzene, and that more than doubles the yield of paraxylene from the naphtha feedstock.

Honeywell UOP is the world's leading licensor of process technology for the production of aromatics. As of last year, UOP licensed more than 100 complexes and more than 700 individual process units for the production of aromatics, including more than 300 CCR Platforming process units and 159 Sulfolane units, 81 Isomar units, 59 Tatoray units, and 101 Parex units worldwide.

IRPC Public Company Limited is a publicly traded petroleum and petrochemical company, and a subsidiary of PTT Group. IRPC is based in Mueang Rayong District, Rayong Province, Thailand, and operates the first fully integrated petrochemical complex in Southeast Asia.

Honeywell UOP (www.uop.com) is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. Honeywell UOP is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group, which also includes Honeywell Process Solutions (www.honeywellprocess.com), a pioneer in automation control, instrumentation and services for the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries.

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 software-industrial company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace and automotive products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help everything from aircraft, cars, homes and buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

SOURCE Honeywell