UOP licenses Oleflex propylene process in Russia

Honeywell’s UOP C3 Oleflex process technology has been successfully operating in Russia, producing high-quality propylene to help meet the global supply shortage of the valuable plastics building block.

Russia’s OOO Tobolsk-Polymer facility, which became the largest Oleflex production unit in the world, is meeting design capacity of 510,000 tpy of propylene at its facility in Western Siberia.

“Petrochemical makers are installing additional propylene capacity to meet growing demand and to make up for the shortage of propylene production from traditional refining and petrochemical sources,” said Pete Piotrowski, senior vice president and general manager of UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business unit.

 “Oleflex has been a leading technology for converting propane to propylene for more than 20 years, and the start-up of the first Oleflex unit in Russia demonstrates both the need for more propylene capacity in the country, as well as the value of the technology.”

Global propylene demand is growing at about 4% to 5%/year. 

Russia is expected to be a large contributor to propylene production due to the country’s diversification into the petrochemicals sector, which has seen substantial investment in the polyethylene and polypropylene industries, according to GlobalData.