Comparative Economic and Environmental Assessments of H2O2-based and Tertiary Butyl Hydroperoxide-based Propylene Oxide Technologies

Until a decade ago, the industrial technologies for producing propylene oxide from propylene were predominantly based on variations of the venerable chlorohydrin and organic hydroperoxide processes. Within the past decade, highly selective H2O2-based propylene epoxidation technologies have been developed by Dow-BASF (HPPO process) and the University of Kansas Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC-PO process). We present comparative economic and environmental impact analyses based on plant scale simulations of the processes for an assumed 200,000 tonnes/yr of PO production capacity and employing relevant process data from the literature. The predicted capital costs for the CEBC-PO process ($228 million) and HPPO process ($275 million) are lower than the conventional PO/TBA process ($372 million). The PO production costs via the conventional PO/TBA and HPPO processes are 150.4¢/lb PO (profit 87.9¢/lb, assuming a market value of 41¢/lb for the TBA co-product and 42¢/lb for the enriched propan...