Clariant and Lummus awarded catalyst technology contract for new isobutane dehydrogenation plant in China

MUNICH, MARCH 20, 2024 –Clariant, a sustainability-focused specialty chemical company, and its process partner Lummus Technology have been selected by Huizhou Boeko Materials Co. Ltd., to provide their CATOFIN catalyst and process technology for the dehydrogenation of isobutane at the new plant in Huizhou City, China. The process technology is exclusively licensed by Lummus Technology, while the tailor-made catalyst is supplied by Clariant. It is the first time Huizhou Boeko will license the CATOFIN technology at one of their sites.

The scope of the current award includes the technology license and basic engineering. Once complete, the plant will produce 550,000 metric tons per annum (MTA) of net isobutylene, which will serve as feedstock for the downstream production of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The highly efficient CATOFIN process uses fixed-bed reactors and operates at optimum reactor pressure and temperature to maximize catalytic dehydrogenation of isobutane for high yields of isobutylene at low investment and operating costs. 

“We are delighted to deliver our industry leading CATOFIN catalyst to this first Huizhou Boeko plant and look forward to a fruitful partnership. CATOFIN offers excellent reliability and productivity, yielding superior annual production output, which in turn leads to increased overall profitability for the plant,” said Jens Cuntze, Business President Catalysts and APAC at Clariant. 

New plant ensures customer proximity and covers increasing demand

Since its commercial launch in 2017, CATOFIN has been selected for 39 new projects around the world. More than 50% of these plants are located in China. To meet the rapidly increasing demand of customers like Huizhou Boeko in the region and to ensure close proximity, Clariant recently opened a new CATOFIN catalyst plant with significant production capacity in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China in April 2023. 

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