BASF, Dow, Solvay partnership breaks new ground with innovative technology to make propylene oxide 

Solvay, BASF and Dow have launched a long-term venture to produce propylene oxide, used to make polyurethane plastics, at the world’s first commercial-scale hydrogen peroxide propylene oxide (HPPO) plant at BASF’s site in Antwerp, Belgium.
The innovative process technology offers a number of benefits over conventional routes to propylene oxide, including better economics, environmental improvements and flexibility for locating new plants.

The HPPO plant is fed with hydrogen peroxide from a second new plant at the Antwerp site. The plant has a capacity of 230,000 metric tons per year and will be constructed by Solvay, BASF and Dow. The 300,000 metric tons per year HPPO plant, built jointly by BASF and Dow, has started up in early 2008.
The new HPPO technology brings environmental improvements to the propylene oxide industry, by:

• Reducing wastewater by 70 to 80 percent, compared with existing propylene oxide technology
• Reducing energy usage by 35 percent, compared with existing propylene oxide technology
• Reducing infrastructure and physical footprint with simpler raw material integration and avoidance of co-products