MOSCOW (MRC) -- TechnipFMC says it has been awarded a contract by Shell to supply eight new ethylene furnaces at the Moerdijk petrochemicals complex in the Netherlands. The contract is described as “significant” by TechnipFMC, a term it uses to cover value between USD75 million and USD250 million, said Chemweek.
The work scope covers engineering, procurement, and module fabrication for proprietary equipment and related services for the furnaces, which will replace 16 existing furnaces at Shell’s complex. The new units will utilize TechnipFMC’s multilane radiant coil design and replace the older units without reducing the facility’s capacity, while also increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to TechnipFMC. The Moerdijk cracker is one of Europe’s largest, with an ethylene production capacity of 940,000 metric tons/year.
The upgrade is expected to reduce Shell Moerdijk’s annual carbon dioxide emissions by about 10%, the contractor says. The new equipment will be shipped to the site in modules, enabling the steam cracker at Moerdijk to continue to operate throughout the upgrade, which was announced by Shell earlier this month. The modernization work is expected to be completed in 2025, Shell said when announcing the upgrade.
"We continue to invest in innovation, even in difficult economic times. This investment at Moerdijk contributes to the reduction of carbon emissions from our manufacture of chemicals and to Shell’s ambition of becoming a net-zero-emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner," says Richard Zwinkels, Shell’s general manager at Moerdijk.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's DataScope report, PE imports to Russia dropped in January-June 2020 by 7% year on year to 328,000 tonnes. High density polyethylene (HDPE) accounted for the main decrease in imports. At the same time, PP imports into Russia rose in the first six months of 2020 by 21% year on year to 105,300 tonnes. Propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) accounted for the main increase in imports.
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