Table 3.1 Eurodiol Butanediol Process (mass balance summary)
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The global butanediol (BDO) market was around 0.78 million tons in 2002, and demand growth is estimated to average 4.0 percent per year to 2015. As alternative technologies can be used to make tetrahydrofuran (BDO dehydration) and ?-butyrolactone (GBL), future demand growth will be driven by polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), and copolyester ether (COPE) production. Historically BDO has been consumed mainly in developed economies, but in future the East Asian market will be increasingly important. The East Asian market is partly supply-led such that if local supply is available new derivative business are likely to start-up also. In contrast, the global THF market was around 273 000 tons in 2002 and projected to grow at around 5.6 percent per year driven by PTMEG demand for spandex fibers, COPE and TPU. East Asia too is a strong growth region for THF. In terms of global supply the availability of competitively priced butanes and access to technology will continue to encourage new investment in BDO, THF and derivatives for export.
BDO technology has evolved greatly from the original process developed by Walter Reppe for IG Farben in the 1930s. The requirements of handling acetylene meant that for many years the production of BDO and derivatives could only be performed by a select few. The perception of the value of BDO and its derivatives THF, GBL, etc., spurred substantial efforts in new process developments that came to fruition in a number of commercial processes, including butadiene acetoxylation and allyl alcohol (from propylene oxide) hydroformylation, together with various routes from n-butane via maleic anhydride/maleic acid. Not only have the technologies evolved but also the scale of production, with new worldscale units exceeding capacities of 100 000 tons per year or more.
The first non-acetylene BDO process to be commercialized in the 1970s was the Mitsubishi butadiene acetoxylation, developed as a swing BDO and THF technology. During the 1980s, Arco developed its propylene oxide process via allyl alcohol and commercialized it in the United States in 1990. At this point no technology had been developed simply for license. This was changed by the development by Davy Mckee Ltd. of the first maleic anhydride process, which was licensed to Tonen and Shinwa (now Korea-PTG). In the early 1990s, Sisas developed its own maleic technology for BDO/THF and GBL production.
Existing technologies continue to evolve, while new processes for THF, like the Eastman butadiene epoxidation process, await a commercial opportunity. However, of keen interest today is the potential to develop and commercialize a new route to BDO from glucose via biotransformation through fermentation with a genetically modified Escherichia coli strain to succinic acid and subsequent hydrogenation to BDO.
Markets
As Figure 1 shows, butanediol is a valuable chemical intermediate for the production of high performance polymers, solvents and fine chemicals. The BDO value chain has three main branches - polymers, tetrahydrofuran derivatives and ?-butyrolactone derivatives. BDO is used directly in PBT, TPU and COPE production. When converted to THF and subsequently polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG) the spandex industry is added to the markets served.
The production of GBL provides the feedstock for N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and 2-pyrrolidone as well as serving agrochemical and intermediates markets. NMP is a high performance solvent for extraction processes and increasingly for the electronics industry. 2-Pyrrolidone is an intermediate for pharmaceutical production and via further reaction to N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone for a family of high value polyvinyl pyrrolidone polymers.
Cost Analysis
In developing cost models for BDO and THF production by technology, it is important to tie the technology within a reasonable commercial platform or the results can be misleading. As an example illustrated in Figure 2, when all elements of the Reppe process are combined, namely acetylene, formaldehyde, methanol (from acetylene by-product synthesis gas) and BDO, the power and steam consumption justifies integrated power and steam cogeneration. With this in mind estimates for integrated cases have been considered alongside more typical analysis methodologies for BDO production. The analysis reveals certain aspects of BDO and THF production cost that otherwise would be hidden.
This report presents production economics for seven petrochemical BDO processes, with some processes further showing the effects of scale and feedstock integration. Comparison is made to a conceptual biochemical process. THF economics are estimated for six processes at typical plant scales and characteristic feedstocks.
Table 1 shows the processes for which detailed economics are included in the report.
Table 1: BDO/THF Economics Included in Report
BDO
THF
Reppe, Standalone
Reppe
Reppe, Integrated
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi
BASF
Lyondell, Standalone
Pentose
Lyondell, Integrated
DuPont
Darien, Standalone
Eastman (developmental)
Darien, Integrated
Davy
Eurodiol
BP/Lurgi
Biotransformation (conceptual)
Markets
Global BDO markets are characterized in the report by end use and by region, with supply and demand projections to 2015. Parallel data are presented for THF on a global basis.
A chart lays out degree of downstream integration for producers of BDO and derivatives, as well as highlighting the positions of the major merchant consumers of these materials.
Figure 1 Butanediol Value Chain (Illustrative)
Figure 2 Reppe Butanediol Process Infrastructure (Illustrative)
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