Dow, Shell evaluating multi-megawatt ‘electrified’ pilot cracker

Midland, Michigan – Down Inc. and oil giant Shell are evaluating the construction of a multi-megawatt electric cracking pilot plant, with potential start-up in 2025, the two companies have announced.

Subject to investment support, the project follows a year of joint collaboration between the two companies to accelerate electrification of steam crackers and reduce CO2 emission from one of the central processes of the chemical industry.

In a 17 June statement, the companies also confirmed that the joint programme had been awarded a €3.5 million funding by the Dutch government, as part of its mission-driven research, development and innovation subsidy scheme.

The companies have also expanded the partnership to include The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT). 

The multi-company collaboration, they said, aims to accelerate key milestones for the near-term progress and longer-term breakthroughs needed.

In the first year, the two companies opted a ‘dual-path approach’ towards reducing the CO2 emissions of steam cracking furnaces.

The programme studied electrification solutions for existing steam crackers as well as developing technologies for novel designs of electrified crackers in the longer-term. 

The project involves joint teams in the US and The Netherlands working on electrical design, metallurgy, hydrocarbon technology and computational fluid dynamic.

The initiative is part of both companies’ sustainability strategies which set a target of net zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.