Wison Engineering’s Proprietary Butadiene Technology and Catalyst Pass Scientific and Technological Appraisal by CPCIF

On November 16, Wison Engineering announced that its proprietary technology project of "research and industrial application of Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Butene to Butadiene (ODH) Technology and catalyst development" has passed the scientific and technological appraisal conducted by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) in Beijing.
The appraisal was presided over by Jiang Yanru, Director of the Ministry of Science and Technology of CPCIF. Jin Yong, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor of Tsinghua University, acted as the director of the appraisal committee. Other members of the committee included experts from the East China University of Science and Technology, Synfuels China Technology Co., Ltd., Tianjin University, Peking University, Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd., Beijing University of Chemical Technology and other well-known enterprises and universities. Hu Juan, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Science and Technology of CPCIF, attended the appraisal meeting as well.
The appraisal committee has fully affirmed the technical innovation work of Wison Engineering and concluded: “The results of the research and industrial application of ODH Technology and catalyst development have reached an internationally advanced standard. Of these results, the butene oxidation and dehydrogenation new catalyst product yields have reached a top international standard. Therefore the committee has unanimously agreed that the appraisal is passed.” The committee also suggested that Wison Engineering should accelerate the application.
Academician Jin Yong said: “ODH technology has been developed for more than 50 years, but due to the high production costs, its application could not demonstrate its full potential and has not received sufficient promotion. Based on Wison Engineering’s technological achievements in the past, the Company has dedicated extensive efforts in technological development and improvement of the catalyst, effectively reducing energy consumption and production costs, and hence we are bullish about its application prospects.”
Wison Engineering’s proprietary ODH technology uses two adiabatic fixed bed technologies and new catalysts, in the realization of a single production line capacity of 100 000 t/a while butene conversion rate reaches up to 80%; butadiene selectivity is around 93%, and the yield is more than 74%. The separation part adopts NMP or improved ACN technology, reducing the device investment and energy consumption significantly. The technology includes innovative technologies suitable for the mass production of reactors, plant wastewater reuse, and on-line catalyst regeneration. At present, this technological achievement has been applied successfully in the butadiene plant of Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co., Ltd., and achieved significant economic and social benefits. In addition, it allowed the butadiene plant in Nanjing Chengzhi Yongqing Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to be granted a license again.
Mr. Liu Haijun, President of Wison Engineering, said: “We are very grateful for the recognition of ODH technology by academic Jin Yong and the whole committee. This represents a recognition and encouragement to Wison Engineering’s technology research and development. Wison Engineering will continue to develop clean energy and green chemical technology, and make contributions to China’s chemical technology innovation.”
Butadiene is an important basic chemical raw material. With the global olefin raw materials turning towards light aromatics, the extraction of the butadiene monomer production by the traditional ethylene plant cracking carbon tetraphenyl butadiene method will be substantially reduced. The problem of insufficient butadiene supply globally will be solved by the specialized butadiene production technology. Wison Engineering’s ODH technology will be one of the solutions. Through the catalyst and technology optimization, the production costs of Wison Engineering’s ODH technology have been significantly reduced, effectively supplementing ethylene butadiene products and contributing to the production of raw materials for butadiene. Due to the current high coal prices, this technology can be used for the comprehensive use of tetra resources — which are a byproduct of coal to olefin — for the production of high value-added butadiene monomer. This gives a substantial increase in the overall benefits of MTO devices, and has good prospects of being pushed forward.