Linde Group celebrates compelling operating concept

The Linde Group recently celebrated the inauguration of the Linde-built on-site supply units at Sadara Chemical Complex. The Linde Group and Sadara Chemical Company signed in 2012 a long-term contract for the on-site supply of industrial gases, which includes a HyCO facility for the production of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2) and an ammonia plant.
Established in October 2011, Sadara Chemical Company is a joint venture developed by the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow). It is the largest chemical complex ever built in the world in a single phase, with 26 integrated world-scale manufacturing plants, over 3 million metric tons of capacity per year, and a total investment of about $20 billion.
Linde is responsible for an essential piece within the complex: The long-term supply of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and ammonia. These gases play a key role in the production of various aromatic compounds, amines and hydrogen peroxide, as well as isocyanates used to generate polyurethane, a material essential to the manufacture of synthetic fibers, foam and adhesives, and used in products such as mattresses and car seats.
At $380 million, the Sadara project is one of Linde’s largest single investments over the last few years and the company’s first on-site project in Jubail.
“We were excited to see our largest on-site petrochemical project in this region grow from drawing board to reality,” Aldo Belloni, CEO of Linde AG said. “Our intention to expand our gases and engineering business in the Middle East has another solid foothold with the new production units.”
Linde’s Engineering Division provided the design, delivery and construction of the new turnkey gases facilities at the petrochemical cluster: A two-stream HyCO plant, plus a single-stream NH3 unit producing waterless liquid ammonia. The compelling supply concept is operated by Linde’s Gases Division.
Linde was one of the first contract partners in the whole complex to achieve mechanical completion of its plants, ahead of schedule. This achievement did not go unmarked: In April 2015, Sadara presented Linde with an award in recognition of the company’s performance. Elements of the overall chemical complex in Al- Jubail went on stream in 2016 and the complex is expected to be fully operational in 2017.

Source: Arab News