Dow and Davy License Technology to NanYa Plastics     

LP Oxo SM SELECTOR SM 30 Technology using the NORMAX TM Catalyst, which is cooperatively offered by Dow Technology Licensing, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated affiliates (Dow), and Davy Process Technology Limited (DPT), a Johnson Matthey company, has been selected by NanYa Plastics, a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Group in Taiwan, to retrofit and expand its existing LP Oxo SELECTOR 10 facility in Taiwan. With startup targeted for early 2010, the retrofit will increase production capacity to a total of 241 600 tons per year of normal butyraldehyde and iso-butyraldehdye from the current capacity of 192 000 tons per year and an increase in the production capacity of 2-ethylhexanol (2EH) to 200 000 tons per year from the current capacity of 150 000 tons per year. NORMAXTM Catalyst will enable a normal to iso-butyraldehyde selectivity ratio of 30: 1 which will reduce propylene usage to 2EH by over 6% compared to current operation.
   LP Oxo SM SELECTOR Technology is a low-pressure hydroformylation process that uses propylene and synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) to produce normal- and iso-butyraldehydes. These butyraldehydes are then converted into 2-ethylhexanol (2EH) and normal- and iso-butanol. For more than 30 years, Davy and Dow have co-marketed and delivered LP Oxo Technology licenses and services. To date, the technology has been licensed for 29 plants in 15 countries. LP Oxo Technology is recognized as the world's leading licensed Oxo technology, contributing to more than 85% of the world's licensed propylene based Oxo capacity.