ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- On April 11, an upgrade project was officially launched by the Saudi petrochemical company SABIC that will transform its Naphtha Olefins4 cracker in Geleen (Holland) into one of the best crackers in Europe in terms of safety, durability and cost efficiency.
As well as the upgrade project, the 135 million euro investment will be used to launch more than twenty additional improvement projects and a substantial maintenance shutdown (Turnaround) scheduled for September 2013.
Built in the 1970s, the cracker will be modernized according to the latest technologies so that it can continue to compete with the ‘younger’ plants.
The goal of the upgrade project is to reduce the cracker’s energy consumption by eight percent. This means significantly less CO2 emissions, which is better for the environment. The project will also realize a production increase of two percent.
BACKGROUND
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world’s top petrochemical companies. The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
