Honeywell's UOP to provide technology

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that it has been selected by Samsung Total Petrochemicals Co. to provide technologies for the production of key petrochemicals and high-quality diesel and jet fuel at its complex in Daesan, South Korea. The integrated aromatics complex will be the first to employ the latest energy-efficient designs from UOP, allowing Samsung to reduce energy consumption by 33 percent and offering significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions compared with earlier designs.

"This facility will play an important role in meeting the significant demand growth in the region," said Peter Piotrowski, senior vice president of Process Technology and Equipment for Honeywell's UOP. "Our proven and reliable technology, combined with the new savings in energy and emissions we have incorporated into the design, will offer Samsung a distinct advantage."

The facility will use several integrated UOP technologies to produce 1 million metric tons of para-xylene and 500,000 metric tons of benzene per year. Para-xylene and benzene are key aromatics used in the production of synthetic fibers and resins. According to WorldPET, a consultant for the global para-xylene industry, the demand for para-xylene in Northeast Asia is expected to increase by 80 percent over the next five years.

UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and technical service for the new units, which are expected to start up in 2014. The integrated aromatics complex will use the UOP Parex, Sulfolane, Tatoray, Isomar and CCR Platforming processes to produce high-purity para-xylene and benzene. The UOP Distillate Unionfining and Merox processes will be utilized to to produce 2.6 million metric tons per year of high-quality distillate products, including diesel and jet fuels. UOP also provided the technology for Samsung's first aromatics complex, which started operation in 1996.