China’s Novel Propane/Butane Dehydrogenation Technology Successfully Tested in Commercial Scale

The novel propane/butane dehydrogenation (ADHO) technology, developed by the China University of Petroleum (East China) and designed by the East China Design Institute of PetroChina Petroleum Engineering and Construction Company has been successfully tested in commercial scale at the Shandong Hengyuan Petrochemical Company, Ltd.

The State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China) has successfully developed the non-toxic and corrosion-free non-noble metal oxide catalysts coupled with highefficiency circulating fluidized bed reactor to realize with success the C3—C4alkanes dehydrogenation reaction with continuous decoking and regeneration of the catalyst. The results of testing this technology in commercial scale have revealed that the once-through conversion of alkanes, the olefns yield and the olefns selectivity are on a par with those achieved by the imported technology.

This technology has the following specific features. The feedstock can be directly routed to the reactor without such complicated pre-treatment procedures as desulfurization, dearsenication, and removal of lead compounds; this process is suited to the separate dehydrogenation of propane or isobutane or dehydrogenation of a mixture of propane and butane; the reaction is carried out with the catalyst continuously regenerated to ensure high production efficiency; the catalyst is non-toxic and corrosion-free to achieve a long-cycle, safe and smooth operation of process unit; and the catalyst has high mechanical strength with low catalyst consumption.