Expansion of Litvínov steam cracker with furnace in Czechia boosts petrochemical capacities at ORLEN Unipetrol

At a glance

The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is increasing the capacity of its petrochemical operations in response to growing global demand for petrochemical products. It has completed a new polyethylene unit and plans to raise the yields of its steam cracker, the primary source of hydrocarbons for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene. The company aims to increase its petrochemical production from 0.9 million to 1.4 million tonnes per year by 2030. The construction of an eleventh steam cracker furnace, costing over CZK 700 million, will be commissioned in 2022. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is making significant investments in its petrochemical segment.

The global demand for petrochemical products keeps growing. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group reacts to this trend by increasing the capacity of its petrochemical operations. Now, following the completion of a brand-new polyethylene unit (PE3) to produce the cutting-edge high-density polyethylene, the Group is adopting another measure. It plans to raise the yields of the fundamental production unit of its petrochemical segment, the steam cracker. In addition to a range of other chemical products, the unit is a primary source of hydrocarbons for the subsequent manufacture of polyethylene and polypropylene. The new, eleventh steam cracker furnace for more than CZK 700 million will be commissioned in 2022. It will be built by Technip Energies.

“The petrochemical segment already represents a third of our production and more than half of our incomes. Its importance will continue to grow in the coming decades, as global demand for petrochemical products grows, too,” says Tomasz Wiatrak, CEO of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group, adding: “We want to increase the total petrochemical production from 0.9 million to 1.4 million tonnes a year by 2030. We need to remove the existing capacity limitations of the steam cracker’s pyrolysis section, the heart of our petrochemical segment, to have sufficient space for the planned production increase.”

The ORLEN Unipetrol Group makes a massive investment in the petrochemical part of its operations. Last year, it commissioned a new polyethylene unit, PE3, to produce cutting-edge high-density polyethylene for CZK 10 billion. It plans to launch another unit for almost CZK 1 billion at the end of 2022. It will manufacture a new product, dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), making ORLEN Unipetrol one of the four largest manufacturers in Europe.

The project of the construction of the steam cracker’s eleventh furnace in Litvínov includes the construction based on the proprietary SMK™ coil technology in a triple-lane arrangement in the radiation chamber heated with a combination of large-scale vortex burners (LSV®) and side wall burners (TSWB®). They represent the best possible technologies in terms of low NOx production. This project follows the successful delivery and start-up of four cracking furnaces for the same complex in 2016.

Stan Knez, Chief Technology Officer of Technip Energies commented: “We are very pleased that ORLEN Unipetrol has again selected the SMKTM technology of Technip Energies for this new furnace. With more than 145 installations around the world, this technology is recognised for giving clients reliable and flexible solutions to improve operational efficiency and reduce emissions.”

The steam cracker is located in ORLEN Unipetrol’s production plant in Záluží near Litvínov, the largest chemical facility in the Czech Republic. It was commissioned in 1979. It comprises ten cracking furnaces, and its production capacity was 435 kt of gaseous hydrocarbons a year. In 2000, its annual capacity was increased to 485 kt of ethylene. Following the 2007 modernisation, the unit’s yearly capacity rose to 545 kt of ethylene. The 2016 refurbishment project involved the construction of four new pyrolysis furnaces. The current construction of the eleventh furnace will allow expanding the steam cracker’s production capacity up to 585 kt of ethylene a year in the future.