Sep 10 2010
CB&I (NYSE: CBI) announced today that a plant using the combined DMTO methanol-to-olefins technology of SYN Energy Technology Co. Ltd. and Lummus Technology successfully started-up in Baotou, China.
It is the world’s first methanol-to-olefins unit to be operated on a commercial scale. The plant is owned by China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Company Ltd.
The breakthrough technology enables licensees to produce olefins (ethylene and propylene) from methanol. The plant is designed to produce 600,000 tons per annum of olefins from methanol. On spec ethylene and propylene product were achieved less than 72 hours after methanol was introduced to the unit.
The unit is the first of several that have been licensed by SYN and Lummus Technology under a worldwide partnership to offer the reactor and olefins recovery technologies jointly. SYN licensed the reactor and catalyst technology used in the plant and Lummus Technology licensed the olefins recovery technology.
Olefins are used as intermediates in the petrochemical industry to produce a variety of products, including plastics, fibers and rubber.