Propylene
The second-largest olefin, made in crackers, refineries and dedicated propane plants, and turned mostly into polypropylene plastic.
Commodity chemicals · Olefins · No. 24
- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 135-140 Mt produced a year (2025, indicative: 188 Mt capacity x about 72-75% utilisation)
- 1.5 t CO₂e per t
- HS 290122
China built so many propane-to-propylene plants that capacity jumped 25% in four years and margins fell to almost nothing.
Chart: Illustration: Propylene
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Propylene comes from four sources: naphtha crackers, refinery catalytic crackers, coal or methanol plants and, increasingly, on-purpose propane dehydrogenation.
Three things to know
- Capacity rose 25% from about 151 Mt in 2021 to 188 Mt in 2025, driven by Chinese propane dehydrogenation (PDH).
- In late 2025 China's PP-propylene spread fell to $75/t, against $250-350/t needed, and PDH plants ran near 70%.
- In April-May 2025 China raised tariffs on US propane to 125% before cutting them to 10%, scrambling PDH feed.
The journey
- 1 FeedstockNaphtha, refinery gas oil, propane, coal
- 2 ProductionCrackers, refinery FCC or PDH plants
- 3 PurificationSplit to 99.5% polymer grade
- 4 PolymerisationMost turned into polypropylene
- 5 ConversionPackaging, sacks, fibres and car parts