Dow Awards Aker Kvaerner Engineering Contract For Two Projects in China

18-Jul-2006

The Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation (UCCPTC), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, has awarded Aker Kvaerner an engineering contract to assist in the development of process design packages and extended process design packages for two Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol (EO/EG) plants that will use the METEOR(TM) LEC EO/EG technology.

The plants will be built in the People's Republic of China by subsidiaries of Sinopec under a license from UCCPTC. One project is at the Sinopec Tianjin one million tonne per annum (TPA) ethylene complex in the Dagang District of Tianjin, and the second is at Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company's production facility in the port city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

The awarding of the contract comes on the heels of the July 5 announcement of a cooperation agreement signed between Dow and Aker Kvaerner for METEOR EO/EG technology. The work will be executed by a joint team working in two locations - the Union Carbide Technology Park in South Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.A., and Aker Kvaerner's engineering office in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands.

Wim van der Zande, president of Aker Kvaerner's AK Process business, explains, "Aker Kvaerner is pleased to be part of yet another technology transfer project for China. Aker Kvaerner and Dow have a long history of technology cooperation which has led to a highly successful model for project execution. Together with our extensive engineering experience in the Chinese market we look forward to the successful completion of these packages."

"By leveraging Aker Kvaerner's experience in producing engineering packages for licensees in China, Dow will be providing a high quality technology transfer and contributing to the successful completion of both Sinopec projects," states Joseph Bromley, business director, Dow Licensing Technology, METEOR and LP OxoSM Technology.

Both the Sinopec Tianjin branch and Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company have recently received approval for one million TPA ethylene crackers. The Tianjin EO/EG plant will be able to produce up to 420,000 TPA of Monoethylene Glycol (MEG) product and 40,000 TPA of pure EO. Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company's EO/EG plant is planned to produce up to 650,000 TPA of MEG product, and 100,000 TPA of pure EO.

The major use of ethylene glycol is in the manufacture of polyester fibers and resins. This includes polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is well known for its use in plastic bottles for soft drinks. Ethylene glycol also has a significant market as an antifreeze additive in the automobile industry.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/56409/dow-awards-aker-kvaerner-engineering-contract-for-two-projects-in-china.html