Page 19 - Plastics News November 2020

Oriental to use UOP's C3 Oleflex™ technology Lucite and Mitsubishi to tie up with Agilyx for
for propane dehydrogenation Acrylic recycling

riental Energy Company Ltd. will use Honeywell ucite International (LI) and Agilyx Corporation a
OUOP's C3 Oleflex™ technology for propane Lpioneer in the advanced recycling of post-use
dehydrogenation to meet growing demand for the plastics, plans to pursue a commercial-scale trial for
production of polymer-grade propylene. The Oleflex the recycling of PMMA, commonly known as acrylic, at
unit is scheduled to start up in Maoming, Guangdong in Agilyx's Tigard, Oregon facility. Following the success
2022.
of an initial smaller-scale trial using Agilyx's molecular
UOP will provide services, equipment, catalysts and recycling technology, LI, with the support of parent
adsorbents for the Maoming plant. The project marks company, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC), will
Oriental Energy's fourth C3 Oleflex unit, and the 44th further advance its collaboration with Agilyx to deliver
award for C3 Oleflex technology in China, where fully circular PMMA. Lucite International (LI) aims for
demand continues to rise for propylene, the primary commercial realisation of recycled PMMA production
component in many plastic resins, films and fibres.
Since 2011, 68 of the last 92 dehydrogenation projects by 2023. In the interim, LI is working with all key
stakeholders - including MMA (the building block of all
acrylic-based products) customers, PMMA customers,
manufacturers, distributors, fabricators and recyclers

globally have been based on UOP technology, including
many in China. Global production capacity of
propylene from Oleflex technology currently stands at - to develop a robust value chain for all. "The results of
approximately 7.9 million tpy. “Longtime customers the trial were so encouraging that we asked Agilyx to
such as Oriental Energy continue to invest in UOP's run a full-scale plant trial to further prove and
Oleflex technology because of its strong record for optimise their technology," said David Smith, Circular
operational reliability and cost efficiency compared to Economy Programme Lead for LI. "The MMA yield and
other dehydrogenation technologies,” said Bryan purity figures of the first trial surpassed our
Glover, vice president and general manager of UOP's expectations, so we are excited to see how well PMMA
Process Technologies business. “We continue to see
can be recycled at full production levels. Most
significant growth in China with the immense demand encouragingly, when we tested a wide variety of PMMA
for propylene.” UOP's C3 Oleflex technology uses feedstocks during the initial trial; we purposely
catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to
propylene. Honeywell UOP, formerly known as UOP included a number of contaminants and the Agilyx
LLC or Universal Oil Products, is a multi-national technology handled them with no issues. This means
that we are on track to deliver a fully operational
company developing and delivering technology to the
petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical recycling plant in Europe for PMMA by 2023. "PMMA is
production, and major manufacturing industries. The an ideal material for advanced recycling," said Tim
Oleflex technology's low-energy consumption, low- Stedman, CEO of Agilyx.. Having a history of recycling
emissions and fully recyclable, platinum-alumina- mixed waste plastics to synthetic crude and naphtha,
based catalyst system also helps minimise impact on Agilyx has the knowledge and expertise to turn PMMA
the environment. The independent reactor and back into its original monomer, MMA, creating a truly
regeneration design helps maximise operating circular material.
flexibility and onstream reliability.

NOVEMBER 2020 19 Plastics News