The technology group Linde has received an order from Ruhr Oel GmbH for the turn-key installation of five new cracking furnaces for an ethylene plant at the company’s Gelsenkirchen-Scholven site.
The total order value is approximately 130 million euros. Ruhr Oel GmbH is a joint venture between Deutsche BP AG and Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., the Venezuelan state oil company.
“The order is particularly important to Linde because an innovative overall concept was used to clinch the deal”, said Dr. Aldo Belloni, member of the Executive Board of Linde AG and responsible for the business segment Gas and Engineering. “We have proven our expertise both in terms of processes and with our exceptional assembly concept”.
The new plants will replace 17 existing older-generation furnaces, which no longer comply with today’s environmental requirements with regard to nitric oxide (NOx) and dust emissions as well as energy efficiency. The five new, identical, state-of-the-art furnaces, each boasting a capacity of approximately 100,000 tons of ethylene per year, have a broad processing spectrum: from heavy hydrocarbons to naphtha and gaseous feedstocks. Ethylene is a key source material for the plastics industry, in particular.
The new furnaces will be assembled outside of the operational plant and largely prepared for commissioning. In September 2007, during a routine shutdown of the plant, the existing furnaces will be dismantled and their new replacements transported to the site and installed there. This investment secures the long-term operation of the Gelsenkrichen ethylene plant and plays a decisive role in sustaining the site.