MOSCOW (MRC) -- Shell has announced that it will replace the ethylene steam cracker furnaces at its Moerdijk petrochemicals complex, The Netherlands, in a move that will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Shell will install eight new furnaces in place of 16 older units without reducing capacity at the facility. The investment significantly reduces both the site’s energy consumption and its operational greenhouse gas emissions. The CO? emissions reduction is about 10 percent of Shell Moerdijk’s annual total.
The cracker unit produces base chemicals which are used to make finished products that people use every day, from smart phones, clothing, packaging and medical equipment, to insulation and light-weight components in cars and planes. The new furnaces will be shipped to the site in modules, enabling the cracker to continue to operate throughout the upgrade project. Work is expected to be completed in 2025.
Thomas Casparie, Executive Vice President of Shell’s global chemicals business, said: “We continue to invest in innovation, even in difficult economic times. Steam cracking makes base chemicals, which are transformed into a range of finished products that help society live, work and respond to climate change. 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. We aim to achieve our ambition in step with society.”
As MRC reported earlier Shell will announce a major restructure by the end of the year as the company prepares to accelerate its shift toward its net-zero emissions goal by 2050, said CEO Ben van Beurden to employees. The restructuring will include workforce reductions as part of broader cost-cutting measures, although no figures have been decided yet, the CEO reportedly said during an internal webcast.
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.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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