Steam cracking furnace feels heat from renewable electricity

After three years of development, engineering, and construction work, the operation of the demonstration plant is now ready to start at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen.

Steam crackers require a significant amount of energy to break down hydrocarbons into olefins and aromatics. Typically, the reaction is conducted in furnaces at temperatures of about 850^oC using conventional fuels.

The demonstration plant aims to show that continuous olefin production is possible using electricity from renewable sources as a heat source, thereby potentially reducing CO₂ emissions by at least 90 per cent.

The demonstration plant - which produces olefins including ethylene, propylene, and possibly higher olefins from saturated hydrocarbon feedstock - is fully integrated into the existing steam crackers in Ludwigshafen.

The upcoming operation will gather data and experiences about material behaviour and processes under commercial operating conditions for the final development of this technology to industrial market maturity.

In separate demonstration furnaces, two different heating concepts will be tested. In one furnace, direct heating will apply an electric current directly to the cracking coils, whilst in the second furnace indirect heating will use the radiative heat of heating elements placed around the coils. The two electrically heated furnaces together process around four tons of hydrocarbon feedstock per hour and consume 6MW of renewable energy.

To support the development of the furnace technology, the project was granted €14.8m by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action under its Decarbonisation in Industry funding program.

“With the development of electrically operated steam cracking furnaces, we are getting our hands on a key technology that will help to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the chemical industry,” Dr Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF said in a statement. “The demonstration plant here in Ludwigshafen will provide us with valuable experience on the final step towards the industrial application of this technology.”