LyondellBasell awarded DOE grant

qiangzi

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Houston, TX - LyondellBasell was awarded a $4.5 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a catalyst-assisted technology to improve the energy efficiency of producing ethylene from ethane gas while emitting fewer greenhouse gases (GHG). “LyondellBasell is honored to be selected for an innovative manufacturing process grant that can benefit the U.S. chemical industry through lower energy costs and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” said Tim Roberts, senior vice president, Olefins and Polyolefins – Americas. “Access to low-cost ethane from shale gas over the past three years has changed the competitive position of the U.S. chemical industry. We have an opportunity to further this advantage through greater energy efficiencies in our manufacturing processes. This grant helps to facilitate faster development of catalyst-assisted technology for ethane cracking.” LyondellBasell, in collaboration with Quantiam Technologies and BASF Qtech, will develop the new energy saving technology in a three-part program over the next three years. It will build upon earlier generation ethane and naphtha-fed catalytic coating technology for steam crackers developed by BASF Qtech by extending the benefits to ethane and natural gas liquid-fed steam crackers. LyondellBasell has six steam cracking units in the U.S. and can process ethane and natural gas liquids for up to 85 percent of their feedstocks. The estimated cost share for this project in addition to the DOE grant is $2.2 million.