Korea's S-OIL has broken ground on the Shaheen project in South Korea. Once complete, the Shaheen complex will include the world’s largest ethylene steam cracker and the first commercial deployment of TC2C, a technology that converts whole crude into value-added chemicals.
S-OIL’s new plant will deploy several Lummus and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) technologies to process crude to produce ethylene, propylene, butadiene and other basic chemicals. Upon completion, the new plant will have an annual production capacity of up to 3.2 million tonnes of petrochemicals
Thermal Crude to Chemicals (TC2C) technology economically optimizes the production of high-value chemicals from crude oil by tailoring the hydrogen content of selected crude oil components to make an optimum feed for a mixed feed steam cracker. TC2C is a large-scale integrated process that converts greater than 70 wt% chemicals.
TC2C reportedly simplifies the crude conversion process compared to conventional crude oils to chemicals technologies while delivering higher chemicals yield. Saudi Aramco Technologies Company, Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), and Lummus Technology jointly developed this innovative and transformative process after several years of intense research at different scales.
TC2C converts crude into value-added chemicals in a uniquely integrated process combining Lummus’ ethylene technology with Saudi Aramco’s separation and catalyst technologies and CLG’s hydroprocessing catalysts and reactor technologies. TC2C maximizes conversion of crude at lower carbon intensity, higher energy efficiency and lower capital than conventional refinery/petrochemical complexes. Unlike any other crude-to-chemicals technology, TC2C processes low-value refinery streams such as slurry oil and pyrolysis oil, and it can be tailored to maximize olefins, aromatics or any combination.
Image courtesy of Lummus Technology.