Dow, Shell announce joint plans to develop electric cracking technology

Dow, Inc. and Shell announced this week a joint development agreement to accelerate and develop technology to electrify ethylene steam crackers.

Currently, steam crackers rely on fossil fuel combustion to heat their furnaces, which makes them CO2 intensive. Dow and Shell said that using renewable electricity to heat steam cracker furnaces could become one of the routes to decarbonize the chemicals industry.

The companies have innovation project teams in Amsterdam and Terneuzen, the Netherlands and Texas focused on designing and commercially scaling “e-cracker” technologies.

“Continuously improving the sustainability of our operations is an inherent part of how we operate at Dow,” said Keith Cleason, vice president of Dow Olefins, Aromatics and Alternatives business. “Significant technological breakthroughs are needed to reduce our industry’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, which will require companies to step out of their comfort zones and work together to achieve bold and ambitious new goals. Our partnership with Shell is an important step in making this vision a reality.”

Shell brought its petrochemicals experience to Pennsylvania when Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC invested in the building of a major plant consisting of an ethylene cracker with a polyethylene derivatives unit near Pittsburgh. The plant will use low-cost ethane from shale gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica basins to produce 1.6 million tonnes of polyethylene each year.

Completion of the site’s early works program was realized in November 2017 with the main construction phase beginning shortly after. Commercial production is expected to begin in the next couple of years.

“Steam cracking makes base chemicals, which are transformed into a range of finished products that help society live, work and respond to climate change,” said Thomas Casparie, executive vice president of Shell’s global chemicals business. “This new work with Dow has the potential to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from the manufacture of chemicals and to Shell’s ambition of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner.