Phillips' hope for 1-hexene
15 Jan 2000
Phillips Chemical has released details of a new process to make almost pure 1-hexene, a monomer used to modify the properties of polyethylene. Another new technology, to remove acetylene from ethylene streams and hydrogenate it, is to be offered for licensing.
The 1-hexene process uses a chromium-based catalyst to convert an ethylene feedstock into the six-carbon linear olefin. It operates at a moderate pressure, and produces 90-95 per cent pure product - a significant improvement on the competing processes, the company claims.
Phillips is backing up its discovery with serious investment - it is to build a 45000-90000t/a plant on the US Gulf Coast, scheduled to start up in 1999. The company believes that the new process will help 1-hexene overtake butene as the comonomer in PE copolymers. However, it has no plans to license the process.
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