There is a strong demand for high-octane value blend stock due to the following reasons:
- Increasing availability of low-octane straight-run naphtha via tight oil production in North America
- Need for higher-efficiency engines to meet automotive standards such as the U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
- Anticipated decrease in gasoline pool octane-barrel due to governmental regulations on gasoline sulfur standards such as Tier III, China 6, Euro V.
On the other hand, butanes prices are on the decline because of:
- Increase in shale gas production in North America
- Abundant natural gas liquid (NGL) reserves in the Middle East
- Need to remove butanes from the gasoline pool to comply with vapor pressure specifications (RVP).
These factors have resulted in strong economic incentives for on-purpose upgrading of butanes to alkylate. Lummus offers the only proven scheme to yield the highest alkylate quality (up to 98 RON) in the marketplace. Lummus' state of the art value proposition combines two leading-edge, commercially-proven technologies, the CATOFIN® dehydrogenation process and the CDAlky® alkylation process.
