SABIC starts construction of world's first electrically heated steam cracker furnaces

SABIC headquarters

BASF, SABIC and Linde have started construction of the world’s first demonstration plant for large-scale electrically heated steam cracker furnaces.

The trial operation of the demonstration plant is targeted for 2023. With the new technology BASF, SABIC and Linde aim to develop full-scale commercial production plants that can achieve significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, compared with today’s technology, SABIC said in a statement.

The new technology uses electricity from renewable sources instead of natural gas. It has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions of one of the most energy-intensive production processes in the chemical industry by 90% compared to technologies commonly used today.

The demonstration plant will be fully integrated into one of the existing steam crackers at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

SABIC and BASF will bear the investment costs for the pilot and the demonstration plant will be operated by BASF. Linde is the engineering, procurement and construction partner for the project and in the future will commercialize the developed technologies.

The project has been granted €14.8 million by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action under its “Decarbonization in Industry” funding program, to help address challenges due to current framework conditions and energy costs.