From Membranes to Inorganic Materials: Uop's Role in Modern Process Technology Revolutions

This presentation will highlight UOP’s role in process technology revolutions, for which the fields of catalysis and separations have been pillars for invention and technology development.

UOP has played a major role in the advancement of membrane technology for essential gas separations. UOP’s Separex^TM membrane technology has been an important enabler for effective and efficient separation of contaminants from natural gas for on-shore and off-shore applications. This is especially so for off-shore floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels that require lower-weight and smaller-footprint membrane systems. Innovation in Separex membrane materials, equipment, and process technology integration has been instrumental to the widespread use of membranes in natural gas upgrading and it will continue to enable new separations such as low-energy intensity olefin/paraffin separations.

UOP played a major role in the discovery of inorganic materials, including molecular sieves which are used in the production of fuels and petrochemicals, and particularly light olefins and aromatics. For example, the Methanol-to-Olefins process is one of the fastest growing petrochemical process technologies to produce ethylene and propylene. The process was made possible by the invention of the molecular sieve SAPO-34, whose distinctive structure helps the process achieve very high selectivity at economically viable process conditions. Zeolites play an increasing role in gas phase and liquid separation technology, such as Parex™ technology for purification of paraxylene.