US-based energy infrastructure company Williams has announced its plans to build and operate a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Alberta, Canada, for an investment of over CAD900m ($879.7m).
The new PDH facility will help Williams to increase the production of polymer-grade propylene, a valuable petrochemical feedstock.
The grade propylene produced at the plant will be supplied to the US Gulf Coast and sold to petrochemical producers.
Williams will design the new propane dehydrogenation unit with an initial annual production capacity of about 1.1 billion pounds and on further expansion its capacity can be doubled.
Williams Energy Canada president David Chappell said the company is moving full-speed on Canada’s only PDH facility.
"The project fits strategically within Williams’ operations in Alberta, leverages our expertise in propylene and adds further value to a
byproduct of oil sands upgraders," Chappell added.
"Once operational, this new propane dehydrogenation facility will expand market opportunities for Canada, feed the demands of North America’s growing petrochemical industry and allow for the creation of a new value chain in Alberta."
Williams will select Honeywell’s UOP as the vendor for the UOP Oleflex process technology, which will be used in the dehydrogenation process, to produce polymer-grade propylene.
The new PDH facility will be located around the company’s existing Redwater fractionation plant near Edmonton, Alberta.
The PDH unit is expected to begin operations in the second quarter of 2016, once required approvals are received.