The technology company The Linde Group has been awarded a contract to build the world’s largest carbon dioxide (CO2) purification and liquefaction plant for Jubail United Petrochemical Company (United), a manufacturing affiliate of Sabic (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation). The plant will be located in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.
The plant will be designed to compress and purify around 1,500 tonnes per day of raw carbon dioxide coming from two nearby ethylene glycol plants. The purified gaseous CO2 will be pipelined through the piping corridor of the Royal Commission of Jubail to three Sabic-affiliated companies for enhanced methanol and urea production. Methanol is a basic commodity for the chemical industry and urea is used for fertiliser production. In summary, an estimated 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions will be saved each year.
The plant will also be capable of producing 200 tonnes per day of liquid CO2 with food grade quality which will be stored and thereafter supplied by truck to the beverage and food industry.
The new production will help fulfill Saudi Arabia’s vision to broaden the base of industries downstream as opposed to having too much of its upstream output exported.
According to the vision, the development of a range of new and ancillary industries in the domestic sphere from utilising primary products made upstream will generate a greater volume of diverse products that can be exported, giving greater value. Sectors standing to gain include logistics and the ports business. Downstream industries will also create jobs for Saudi Arabia’s expanding youth population.
Linde Engineering Dresden will be responsible for the concept and basic engineering, front end engineering design (Feed) and detailed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the facility to be completed on a fast-track schedule. Mechanical completion is set to be achieved in 2015.
The plant is the first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) project of this size to be realised in Saudi Arabia. The reduction of CO2 emissions is an important aim in both Sabic’s and Linde’s sustainability strategy.
The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 62,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2012 financial year, it generated revenue of 15.280 billion euros.
