PROPANE DEHYDROGENATION

As the world population increases and the demand for plastics skyrockets, the process of propane dehydrogenation has gained widespread momentum.

Propane Dehydrogenation or PDH is a process that converts a propane feedstock to propylene which is used commonly in various petrochemical applications.

As the global demand for propylene increases in the automobile sector, manufacturing of bottle caps, fabrics, packaging material, and production of various derivative chemicals the industry is moving more towards on-purpose production and away from co-production. This is mainly achieved through dehydrogenation of propane where propane is selectively dehydrogenated (removal of hydrogen from the propane stream) to convert propylene in the presence of a platinum or chromium oxide-based catalyst depending upon the type of the process.

Paraffin dehydrogenation reaction chemistry is accompanied by a strong endothermic reaction and the reaction must be maintained in strong thermodynamic equilibrium. The high risk of side reaction occurring can cause coking, cracking of hydrocarbons, formation of tar laydown on the reaction catalyst, and hydrogenation of olefins. PDH is a revolutionary process commercialized in the 1990s that converts propane-rich streams to high purity polymer-grade propylene.