Sep 22 2010
The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) today announced it has expanded its technology portfolio with the addition of two refining technologies designed to help refiners meet increasingly stringent environmental regulations for cleaner gasoline.
The two technologies, More Iso-Paraffins (MIP) and Clean Gasoline and Propylene (CGP), reduce undesirable components, such as olefins, sulfur and benzene, from gasoline. The new technologies also increase the yields of premium components, such as iso-paraffins, for high performance engines and propylene used to manufacture petrochemicals.
The technologies can be installed in either existing or grassroots FCC units through modifications to the unit’s riser reactor section. The technologies provide operators with flexibility to switch the desired operation mode based on market demand, either operated in maximum gasoline mode or increased propylene mode.
Shaw will market these technologies outside China on behalf of the developer, Sinopec’s Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (SINOPEC RIPP).
“Shaw is a leading fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) licensor, and we are recognized for our residual fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) and deep catalytic cracking (DCC) technologies,” said Lou Pucher, president of Shaw’s Energy & Chemicals Group. “The addition of these two commercially proven technologies will enable us to help oil refiners build or revamp more profitable and flexible FCC units that meet the challenges of new gasoline regulations and produce more propylene from heavy oils.”
Developed by SINOPEC RIPP in the late 1990s, the technologies were commercialized in 2002 in China. Since then, more than 30 units have been installed with capacities ranging from 0.44 to 3.0 million tons per year.
Shaw has licensed SINOPEC RIPP’s DCC technology outside China since 1993. Shaw also has licensed Sinopec’s catalyst cooling technology since the early 1990s.
“Shaw has demonstrated its ability to license, design and engineer our new technologies in the world market,” says Dr. Jun Long, president of SINOPEC RIPP. “We believe the expansion of our alliance technology portfolio with Shaw will further elevate SINOPEC RIPP’s position as a leading refining technology research and development center.”