Process Technologies

Equilibrium - MTDP-3 - ParamaX® Suite

MTDP-3 is an alternative to PxMax℠. This technology efficiently upgrades toluene into xylenes at equilibrium and on specification benzene. With a higher conversion per pass, it is ideal when no paraxylene separation facilities are foreseen.

TEG

Water absorption with TriEthylene Glycol (TEG) is a highly flexible, easily operable and cost-effective technology for the reliable dehydration of various types of gases. This process has already been implemented and is industrially proven on CO₂ dehydration applications even in the presence of other acid gases such as H₂S.

As compared to field proven TEG units on natural gases, TEG units on CO₂ dehydration applications have to factor in particular characteristics such as corrosiveness, acid gases co-absorption and TEG recovery.

Axens know-how in the domain of CO₂-H₂O-TEG thermodynamics, metallurgy selection, process design and modularization expertise ensure our clients to obtain the best-in-class TEG unit for their CO₂ drying applications.

AdvAmine™

CO₂ capture on syngas can be achieved using mature technology such as EnergizedMDEA which is part of the AdvAmine portfolio. CO₂ absorption on syngas is easily achieved as it is typically at high pressure and there is a large driving force to absorb the CO₂ and the syngas is quite pure and does not contain any oxygen. Alternate regeneration schemes and energy integration can reduce the energy requirement.

DMX™

The DMX™ process, a patented process stemming from IFPEN’s Research and marketed by Axens, is a second-generation process using a solvent that reduces the energy intensity for carbon capture by nearly 30% as compared to the MEA (Mono ethanol amine) reference process.

The DMX™ process is a CO₂ post-combustion capture process based on absorption by a demixing solvent, the DMX™ solvent.

The DMX™ process has been developed for CO₂ capture on coal power stations flue gases and steel gas. It can also be used for capturing CO₂ from other type of emitters such as waste incinerator, cement plant, district heating as well as production of electricity from biomass. This process is well adapted for CO₂ capture on industrial smoke or industrial gas when the CO₂ partial pressures are low to medium.

The DMX™ solvent is a specifically designed solvent that is demixing under specific temperature and CO₂ partial pressure’s conditions. When in contact with CO2, the formation of two phases can be observed, which effectively capture the CO₂.

The demixing principle

Currently, one of the main challenge of the industry is to significantly increase the energy performances of CO₂ capture solutions. They represent the costliest part of the CCS process. The DMX™ solvent tackles this issue. It has a high cyclic capacity (4 times higher as compared with the MEA reference) and only the CO₂ rich phase needs to be regenerated. As it is very stable, it may be regenerated at higher temperature than amine solvents such as MEA, which allows producing the CO₂ in pressure.

DMX™ solvent is also less corrosive and carbon steel may be used as principal material thus reducing also the CAPEX compared to other first-generation solvents.

BioTCat™ Project

IFPEN and Axens joined forces with the American company Anellotech to develop BioTCat™, a bio-aromatic production technology (BTX for Benzene, Toluene and Xylene) based on renewable raw materials.

By combining Anellotech’s process for the thermocatalytic conversion of non-food lignocellulosic biomass with Axens’ hydrotreatment process, the objective is to achieve 100% bio-based BTX in few steps, while minimizing costs, energy consumption and CO2 emissions. These bio-aromatics will find numerous applications, particularly in polyesters for bottles and textile fibers. BioTCat™ will also enable the production of a very high-quality gasoline base.

BioButterfly™ Project

BioButterfly™ pools the strengths and skills of three key research and industry players covering the whole value chain: R&D and pilot tests, catalyst screening and formulation, process development and scale-up and petrochemicals expertise.

Once ready for commercialization, BioButterfly™ will bring a solution for:

• Producing economically competitive bio-butadiene
• Manufacturing high-performance synthetic rubber and adapting the process to all uses of bio-butadiene.
• Reducing environmental impacts, especially greenhouse gas emissions, across the entire life cycle compared with fossil fuels.

Atol®

Atol® technology is the result of a solid partnership bringing together the best experts in their fields:

• Modelling & Extrapolation to Industrial Scale
• Catalyst Development and Industrialization
• Process Development
• Ethanol Expertise and Pilot Testing

Atol® technology takes the production of bio-ethylene to an outstanding level of performance with a maximum profitability to get the business case in full fly. This is a simple & reliable process scheme featuring a variety of fully proven technology solutions.

Futurol®

Futurol^® Technology aims at producing advanced bioethanol and biobased monomers from lignocellulosic biomass (forest and agricultural residues, energy crops).

As the outcome of a 10 years R&D project, with extensive operation of our pre-commercial and industrial scale plants, Futurol^® offers a unique and reliable 4-step conversion process: Biomass Pretreatment, Biocatalysts production, Hydrolysis & Fermentation and Products Recovery.