Honeywell to Provide NGL Fractionation Plant for MarkWest’s US Site

Honeywell has announced that its UOP Russell business will provide a fractionation plant capable of producing 60,000-bpd (barrels per day) of natural gas liquids (NGLs) to MarkWest Energy Partners. The company, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MPLX LP, will install the plant at its Hopedale facility located in Jewett, Ohio, USA.

Fractionation units are used to separate mixtures of extracted NGLs into individual pure components. The system recovers propane, isobutane, normal butane and pentane – or natural gasoline – from mixed natural gas liquids for use in petrochemical manufacturing.

“A growing number of gas processors are investing in NGL fractionation technology,” said Mr. Craig Ranta, Honeywell’s business director for UOP Russell. “Today, our fractionation technologies produce more than 850,000-bpd of NGLs extracted from natural gas streams.” MPLX is engaged in the gathering, processing and transportation of natural gas. MarkWest operates natural gas gathering systems in six States in the US. Its natural gas processing complexes remove the heavier and more valuable hydrocarbon components from natural gas. The company currently operates natural gas processing complexes in the Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Appalachia region, and Southwest region.