Technology

TPC Group is committed to continuous improvement and has continuously developed our products for more than 75 years. In North America, we are a leader across our major product lines, which include highly reactive polyisobutylene (HRPIB), butadiene, butene-1, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and isobutylene. We are dedicated to providing the technical information you need to fulfill our commitment to be good stewards of our processes and products across all stages of the product lifecycle.

The use of Technical Data Sheets (TDS) provides specifications and other supplementary characterization for all TPC Group products.

If you are looking for more detailed product stewardship information on PIB, check the PIB Product Summary and the PIB Handling Guideline Document. Please contact your TPC representative for the PIB Product Summary.

For your convenience, this link will guide you to the American Chemistry Council Butadiene Product Stewardship guide. As part of the American Chemistry Council's CHEMSTAR Olefins Panel, we are involved in the Butadiene Product Stewardship Task Group which created and published this manual.

TPC Group has a significant global patent portfolio because of our long history of product and process development. Highly reactive polyisobutylene (HRPIB) technology, TPC Group OXO-D™ catalyst and OXO-D process for on-purpose butadiene are among the proprietary advancements developed here

Our patented production technology allows us to provide an extensive range of both HR-PIB and more conventional type PIB products to the market (750 Mn to 3500 Mn). Our newest commercialized product TPC 545, extends to even lower molecular weight ranges (450 Mn) to provide additional alpha-olefin molecules with potentially different characteristics to new markets.

New Product Development:
TPC Group has recently developed a process to make various isobutylene based copolymers to increase functionality and extend structure and property advantages in our existing markets as well as in new markets at commercial scale economics (patent pending). Monomers can be targeted for specific characteristics in the resulting product. Isobutylene copolymers that incorporate targeted comonomers have successfully been produced in demonstration scale volumes. We are currently partnering with companies in target application areas to conduct application testing for these new products.

The technology behind the TPC Group OXO-D™ process is a highly efficient way to convert butylenes into butadiene through oxidative dehydrogenation. It is a pathway to convert different feed stocks into finished products. With the technology to utilize a trademark system with unique technology, the Company can produce crude butadiene from normal butane. Should refiners move to lighter feedstocks to make ethylene and propylene there would be less byproduct butadiene produced. TPC Group OXO-D™ technology can close this gap to produce “on-purpose” butadiene.

TPC Group's proprietary TPC Group OXO-D™ technology, which has been commercially proven and successfully operated for more than 40 years, is the basis for TPC's on-purpose butadiene technology in development with UOP. The two companies have jointly developed further enhancements to OXO-D, the most efficient and low-cost method to make on-purpose butadiene, leveraging UOP's expertise in licensing and technology.

TPC Group Inc. is North America’s leading producer of butenes and finished butadiene. UOP is a global leader in developing and licensing process technology for the refining and petrochemical industries.