SHAW STONE & Webster took a strategic decision 15 years ago to focus on getting more value out of the refinery stream.
The US-based engineering and construction company felt there was value for refiners in the bottom of the barrel that could open up access to the olefin and polyolefin markets.
In 1993, it became the exclusive licensor outside China of the deep catalytic cracking (DCC) process developed by Beijing's Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) and state oil company Sinopec.
"DCC was a huge step forward in the market and ahead of its time," says Robert McDonald, business leader for syngas and biofuels at Shaw Stone & Webster.
The technology uses RIPP's proprietary fluid cracking catalyst (FCC) which, together with a more severe cracking environment, gives high yields of ethylene and propylene, as well as aromatic-rich, high-octane gasoline.
However, the technology had never been implemented outside China, until Shaw Stone & Webster signed a first contract in 1994 with a refinery in southern Thailand.
No further contracts were won until 2004, when Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical selected DCC for a high-olefin fluid catalytic cracker project in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, a project that McDonald says the company is particularly proud of.
The fully integrated petrochemical refinery is Saudi Aramco's first foray into petrochemical processing, and will produce 1.3m tonnes/year of ethylene and 900,000 tonnes/year of propylene when it starts operating in the first half of 2009.
McDonald says there is immense value to be recognized in the refinery stream but the technology faced a cultural hurdle. "Refiners are very distinct from the petrochemical world. They talk in barrels per day, rather than millions of tonnes, and they could not understand why we were so concerned about trace components," McDonald explains.
But demand is growing considerably for DCC technology now. McDonald says Shaw Stone & Webster has recently signed up for three projects and is also in talks for at least two or three others around the world.
DCC units are being licensed to JSC Taneco in Nizhnekamsk, Russia, and to Guru Gobind Singh Refineries in Punjab, India, for start-up in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Details on the third project, expected to start up in 2011, are still confidential.
The company is also expending effort in looking at refinery offgas, which has opened up the market for using alternative feedstocks to make olefins. McDonald says that refiners of normal FCC units can have a proven retrofit unit added in order to maximize olefins output, particularly propylene.
Last year, Shaw Stone & Webster renewed a long-running alliance with French technology firm Axens and refiner and petrochemical company Total to license and develop FCC technology for a further 15 years.
Another area the company is studying is converting biomass to ethylene and polyethylene (PE). McDonald says that great potential lies in certain parts of the world that can make inexpensive ethanol, particularly South America, Australia and parts of Asia. He reveals that Shaw Stone & Webster is discussing options with several parties. "There is a willingness in the market to proceed and a sizeable commercial unit could be seen in the next five years," McDonald says.
A resurgent interest in coal is also stimulating interest in coal-to-liquids production using Fisher-Tropsch technology. Shaw Stone & Webster has teamed up with Fuel Frontiers in the US to launch a coal-to-liquid engineering program. This would provide the technical basis for a 400 tonne/day liquid diesel plant in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
The Shaw Group has also embraced the world's growing focus on clean energy. Shaw Capital, an affiliate of the Shaw Group, has teamed up with London, UK-based EEA Fund Management to create Energy & Climate Advisors, which is the advisor to Leaf Clean Energy, a clean energy asset company.
Leaf's strategy is to own, operate and manage clean energy companies and projects, including renewable energy and other projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Its initial focus is in North America, although other regions are also being considered. McDonald says that in working with Leaf, Shaw Stone & Webster can help support carbon credit-based solutions.
Leaf floated on the London stock exchange's Alternative Investment Market last year with a capitalization of about $400m.
The US-based engineering and construction company felt there was value for refiners in the bottom of the barrel that could open up access to the olefin and polyolefin markets.
In 1993, it became the exclusive licensor outside China of the deep catalytic cracking (DCC) process developed by Beijing's Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) and state oil company Sinopec.
"DCC was a huge step forward in the market and ahead of its time," says Robert McDonald, business leader for syngas and biofuels at Shaw Stone & Webster.
The technology uses RIPP's proprietary fluid cracking catalyst (FCC) which, together with a more severe cracking environment, gives high yields of ethylene and propylene, as well as aromatic-rich, high-octane gasoline.
However, the technology had never been implemented outside China, until Shaw Stone & Webster signed a first contract in 1994 with a refinery in southern Thailand.
No further contracts were won until 2004, when Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical selected DCC for a high-olefin fluid catalytic cracker project in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, a project that McDonald says the company is particularly proud of.
The fully integrated petrochemical refinery is Saudi Aramco's first foray into petrochemical processing, and will produce 1.3m tonnes/year of ethylene and 900,000 tonnes/year of propylene when it starts operating in the first half of 2009.
McDonald says there is immense value to be recognized in the refinery stream but the technology faced a cultural hurdle. "Refiners are very distinct from the petrochemical world. They talk in barrels per day, rather than millions of tonnes, and they could not understand why we were so concerned about trace components," McDonald explains.
But demand is growing considerably for DCC technology now. McDonald says Shaw Stone & Webster has recently signed up for three projects and is also in talks for at least two or three others around the world.
DCC units are being licensed to JSC Taneco in Nizhnekamsk, Russia, and to Guru Gobind Singh Refineries in Punjab, India, for start-up in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Details on the third project, expected to start up in 2011, are still confidential.
The company is also expending effort in looking at refinery offgas, which has opened up the market for using alternative feedstocks to make olefins. McDonald says that refiners of normal FCC units can have a proven retrofit unit added in order to maximize olefins output, particularly propylene.
Last year, Shaw Stone & Webster renewed a long-running alliance with French technology firm Axens and refiner and petrochemical company Total to license and develop FCC technology for a further 15 years.
Another area the company is studying is converting biomass to ethylene and polyethylene (PE). McDonald says that great potential lies in certain parts of the world that can make inexpensive ethanol, particularly South America, Australia and parts of Asia. He reveals that Shaw Stone & Webster is discussing options with several parties. "There is a willingness in the market to proceed and a sizeable commercial unit could be seen in the next five years," McDonald says.
A resurgent interest in coal is also stimulating interest in coal-to-liquids production using Fisher-Tropsch technology. Shaw Stone & Webster has teamed up with Fuel Frontiers in the US to launch a coal-to-liquid engineering program. This would provide the technical basis for a 400 tonne/day liquid diesel plant in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
The Shaw Group has also embraced the world's growing focus on clean energy. Shaw Capital, an affiliate of the Shaw Group, has teamed up with London, UK-based EEA Fund Management to create Energy & Climate Advisors, which is the advisor to Leaf Clean Energy, a clean energy asset company.
Leaf's strategy is to own, operate and manage clean energy companies and projects, including renewable energy and other projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Its initial focus is in North America, although other regions are also being considered. McDonald says that in working with Leaf, Shaw Stone & Webster can help support carbon credit-based solutions.
Leaf floated on the London stock exchange's Alternative Investment Market last year with a capitalization of about $400m.
