OMV Building Isobutene Unit at German Refinery

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--OMV AG (OTC:OMVKY) (Vienna, Austria) is investing 64 million euro ($71 million) to construct a new unit at its Burghausen refinery in Germany to produce high-purity isobutene.

The new ISO C4 unit at the 76,300-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) refinery will use new technology from BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany) and be integrated into the existing metathesis plant at the refinery, which produces propylene for the plastics industry. Isobutene is part of the C4 hydrocarbons group and is produced from crude oil components by means of thermal cracking.

Construction on the unit will kick off later this year, and when commissioned in September 2020, it will have a production capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum. BASF will offer a catalyst system and a heat-integration technology developed jointly by OMV and BASF that will allow up to 80% of the heating energy required by the new process to be met by waste heat from existing facilities.

"The new ISO C4 unit is a further element that highlights OMV's talent for innovation," said Thomas Gangl, OMV Executive Board member for Refining & Petrochemical Operations. "This exceptionally efficient and innovative technology has allowed us to raise the bar yet again in the petrochemicals sector following on from our metathesis plant that has been operational since 2007. In the medium to long term, the demand for fossil fuels will change, which will also affect the refining business. That is why the strategic focus of the OMV Downstream business lies in petrochemicals. We want to achieve long-term, sustainable growth and continue to strengthen our competitive position."

The isobutene produced will be used for manufacturing glues, grease and other chemicals such as antioxidants, as well as in the production of vitamin C.

Detlef Ruff, senior vice president process catalysts at BASF, added: "With this seminal new technique for producing a key chemical, BASF is helping its customers to achieve more energy-efficient production. As the global market leader for process catalysts, we serve as a development partner for our customers and are proud to support OMV in becoming even more successful".

Burghausen has an annual processing capacity of about 3.8 million tonnes of crude oil. It produces middle distillates, such as kerosene, diesel and heating oil, but the main focus of the refinery is on high-end petrochemicals. All of the naphtha is used in the production of petrochemical-based substances, including ethylene, propylene and butadiene.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Our European headquarters are located in Galway, Ireland. Follow IIR Europe on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn For more information on our European coverage send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.eu or visit us online at Industrial Info Europe.