Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.engineering-solutions.airliquide.com), the Engineering and Construction activity of the Air Liquide group, has been selected by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) to supply its leading Lurgi/Nippon Kayaku Ester Grade Acrylic Acid technology for their Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project (PDPP) located in Kochi, Kerala, India.
Acrylic acid and acrylates are mainly used for paints, coatings, adhesives and platicizers. The market demand for acrylic acid is driven by growing populations with increasing prosperity.
For BPCL’s Propylene Derivatives Petrochemical Project, Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions is providing the technology license, basic engineering, technical services as well as proprietary catalyst and equipment for the world-scale unit.
This contract with BPCL follows two successful implementations of this Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions technology, notably at one of the world’s largest single-train plants located in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. There, the facility utilizes chemical-grade propylene as feedstock to produce some 140,000 ton/yr of ester-grade acrylic acid. The plant started operation in 2012 and stands out for its world-scale capacity, its high product quality and its operational reliability.