HPPO Technology

The Hydrogen Peroxide to Propylene Oxide Process

The Hydrogen Peroxide to Propylene Oxide (HPPO) process enables the direct synthesis of propylene oxide using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. Developed jointly by thyssenkrupp Uhde and Evonik beginning in 2000, HPPO provides a streamlined and cost‑efficient production route with only water as a co‑product.

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The Benefits of the HPPO Technology

In the HPPO process, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is used as the oxidizing agent to oxidize propylene to propylene oxide (PO) with only water as a co-product. The catalyst system utilized is based on a specifically developed and custom-tailored titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) from Evonik. The HPPO technology provides the following advantages:

Only water as a co-product
Optimized raw material usage through the use of a specially developed catalyst from Evonik
Lower investment costs
Efficient raw material consumption
Decreased energy use lowers carbon footprint

The characteristics of the process are outstanding; it is more environmentally friendly than other competing technologies and does not produce any significant co-products besides water. Additionally, the HPPO process comes with a considerably lower investment volume, resulting in higher profitability than with a conventional production process for propylene oxide.

Propylene oxide is primarily used to produce polyurethane precursors, an attractive market driven by global trends such as resource efficiency and increasing industrial demand.

Most propylene oxide is converted into polyurethane intermediates used in applications such as car‑seat and furniture upholstery, as well as insulation materials for the construction and refrigeration industries. The world’s first industrial‑scale HPPO plant—licensed jointly by Evonik Industries

and thyssenkrupp Uhde was built by SKC in Ulsan, South Korea, in 2008. It initially produced 100,000 metric tons of propylene oxide per year, and its capacity was later expanded to 130,000 metric tons annually. SKC uses the capacity for further processing downstream and supplies propylene oxide to the Korean market and neighboring countries.

H₂O₂ in Ulsan is delivered directly "over the fence" to the HPPO plant by a neighboring hydrogen peroxide plant.

Global HPPO Cooperations

HPPO licensed by Evonik and thyssenkrupp Uhde

The first-ever world-scale HPPO cooperation in China, with 300,000 metric tons of propylene oxide by Jishen Chemical Industry Co. Ltd., is also using the Evonik-Uhde process. Evonik supplies its H₂O₂ directly to the adjacent propylene oxide plant run by Jishen via a pipeline that links the two facilities.

The production plant has an annual capacity of 230,000 metric tons. Evonik has invested over one hundred million euros in the site. To date, hydrogen peroxide has been used mainly as a bleaching agent by the textile and pulp industry.

The HPPO process allows this eco-friendly oxidant to also be employed in the direct chemical synthesis of propylene oxide. HPPO is the technology of choice for either setting up new PO capacity or replacing the PO capacity based on old pollutive chlorohydrin process. Hungarian MOL Group and Chinese Zibo Qixiang Tengda Chemical are two further examples, who are currently building up HPPO capacities, 200kta in Tiszaújváros, Hungary and 300kta in Zibo, China respectively, using Evonik-Uhde technology.

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