Natural Gas Price Drop in US Favors Propylene Production from Methanol

July 11, 2012 - PRLog -- In its most recent study, Intratec Solutions, a Houston publisher and chemical process consulting firm, shows the attractiveness of producing propene from methanol in the US, based on MTP (Methanol to Propylene) process similar to the Lurgi MTP® and JGC/Mitsubishi DTP® technologies.

Propylene Production from Methanol, Q2 2012 remember that China has presented in the past few years the best conditions for the production of propene from methanol, hosting in fact the only two existing MTP plants so far. However, according to the publication, the recent advent of shale gas in the USA favors the construction of MTP plants in the country, as the Shale gas rise lowers the price of natural gas, synthesis gas, and, ultimately, the price of Methanol, main MTP raw material.

The study points out that, nowadays, the internal rate of return of a 557 kta MTP plant exceeds 30% per year not only in China but also in the United States, and scrutinizes the CAPEX of such industrial unit, estimated to be USD 375 million in the US Gulf.

In a detailed economic analysis both the capital investment and the operating costs are presented for plants constructed in the US Gulf Coast, Germany and China. While operating costs of a 557 kta plant ranged between USD 1,100 and USD 1,500 per ton of propene produced, the capital expenses varied from USD 290 million to USD 470 million, according to the region considered.

Propylene Production from Methanol is part of the Technology Economics Program (TEC), and is available at established distribution channels like Amazon.com and HP Magcloud.  A preview of the publication can be found at: http://www.intratec.us/publications/propylene-production-...

For more information about this publication or customized chemical process feasibility studies contact Intratec at sales@intratec.us.

About Intratec

Intratec (http://www.intratec.us) has been the unrivalled provider of techno-economic publications and process consulting for chemical and allied industries.  Intratec's wide spectrum of services include process plant configuration studies, competitive technical intelligence analyses, energy optimization studies, capital cost build-up of entire facilities from individual equipment-level concept design, technical opportunities identification and opportunity portfolio optimization in existing plants and technology evaluation for emerging technologies among others.  With offices in USA, Mexico, Brazil and Canada, Intratec serves readers and clients wherever they need.