Dow and BASF receive Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for HPPO Technology

The Dow Chemical Company and BASF received a 2010 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for their jointly developed hydrogen peroxide to propylene oxide (HPPO) technology that vastly improves the production process of a key chemical intermediate, propylene oxide. Propylene oxide from the HPPO process can be used in a variety of applications from home insulation, appliances, automobiles and furniture to aircraft de-icers, paints, brake fluids and pharmaceuticals.

The award is the seventh Presidential Green Chemistry award for Dow and the fourth for BASF.

The Dow-BASF innovation offers distinct economic and environmental benefits when compared to conventional propylene oxide (PO) process technologies. A joint study conducted by the two companies in 2007 using BASF’s Eco-Efficiency Analysis tool revealed the new HPPO process reduces wastewater by 70 to 80% and energy use by approximately 35%, compared with existing PO technology. No by-products are produced besides water.

In addition, PO plants using the HPPO technology require up to 25% less capital to build than conventional technologies, as they have reduced infrastructure, a smaller physical footprint and simpler raw materials integration. The two companies successfully started up the first commercial-scale HPPO production plant in 2008 at BASF’s Antwerp, Belgium, facility. SCG-Dow Group is building a second plant based on this technology which is scheduled to begin production in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, in 2011.