SABIC, BASF, Linde join hands to develop world’s first electrically heated steam cracker furnace

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), BASF and Linde signed a joint agreement to develop and demonstrate solutions for electrically heated steam cracker furnaces, significantly reducing CO2 emissions within the chemical industry, the companies said in a joint statement today, March 24, 2021.

The entities have already jointly worked on concepts to use renewable electricity instead of the fossil fuel gas typically used for the heating process.

The new pact aims to reduce CO2 emissions by powering the process by using electricity from renewable sources. The fundamentally new technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 90%.

BASF and SABIC provided their extensive know-how and intellectual property in developing chemical processes and knowledge in operating steam crackers, while Linde contributed with its intellectual property, expertise in developing and building steam cracking furnace technologies and driving future industry commercialization.

“Our industry thrives on innovation and collaboration, which enable us to come up with and deliver important contributions to urgent global challenges like resource efficiency and CO2 reduction,” said Yousef Al-Benyan, Vice-Chairman and CEO of SABIC.

He added that the agreement brings together the deep technical knowledge and implementation focus that can help transition energy-intensive processes within the industry to be low carbon-emitting processes.

The companies have applied for financial grants at the EU Innovation Fund and the funding program Decarbonization in Industry (a new program of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment).

In addition, they are evaluating the construction of a multi-megawatt demonstration plant at BASF’s Ludwigshafen site, targeted for a start-up as early as 2023, subject to a positive funding decision.