Air Liquide (Paris; www.airliquide.com) today announced that its engineering and construction division has signed a contract with the Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group (SNCG; China) to build a 500,000 ton/y methanol-to-propylene (MTP) plant. The new plant will follow the successful commissioning of the first industrial scale unit built with the same client.
The contract comprises the basic engineering, license and supply of proprietary equipment, as well as services for procurement and technical advisory services at the site. The large-scale MTP plant is based on technology licensed by Lurgi. SNCG, in close cooperation with the Lurgi team, played an important role in the commissioning and startup phases of the first MTP plant, thereby helping to prove the success of the Lurgi MTP technology at industrial scale.
In this context SNCG and Air Liquide signed a cooperation agreement that includes the continuous improvement and further development of the Lurgi MTP technology. Moreover, SNCG agreed to support the marketing of this technology in China and to support Air Liquide Engineering & Construction division with its own start-up and operational expertise. Air Liquide will remain the sole owner and licensor of the Lurgi MTP technology.
The unit will be built in Ningdong, in the Chinese province of Ningxia. The engineering phase for the contract is to be completed within about eight months.