New units to start up in 2013–2014, with 900,000tpa of cumene capacity and 300,000tpa of phenol.

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that it has been selected by South Korea’s Kumho P&B Chemicals, Inc. to provide technology to produce key petrochemicals for the manufacture of plastics.

Honeywell’s UOP Q-Max and UOP Phenol process technologies will be integrated at Kumho’s Yeosu, South Korea facility to produce high-quality phenol. According to industry consultants, the demand for materials produced using these petrochemicals is forecasted to grow in Asia by as much as 9% annually over the next five years, driven by demand for automobiles, appliances and electronics.

The new units, expected to start up in 2013–2014, will produce 900,000 metric tons per annum (tpa) of cumene and 300,000tpa of phenol. UOP will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents and technical service for the project.

The UOP Q-Max process produces high-quality cumene through the alkylation of benzene with propylene. The cumene is subsequently converted to high-quality phenol, with low feedstock and utility requirements, using the UOP Phenol process.
The UOP Q-Max process uses a robust and efficient catalyst system, which
maximises on-stream time, and minimises raw material and energy consumption.

To date, the total licensed UOP Q-Max production capacity exceeds 5.8 million tpa. UOP’s total licensed phenol production capacity exceeds 3.4 million tpa.

Founded in 1976, Kumho P&B Chemicals, Inc. specialises in the production of phenol and its derivatives, and leads the Asian phenol industry. The company is based in Yeosu, South Korea, and is a subsidiary of Korea’s Kumho Petrochemical Company.