For a project of many superlatives, one of the largest ethylene plants, Linde Engineering is playing a major role in the delivery of this highly complex plant, which covers an area of around one hundred soccer pitches. But it is not just its sheer size that makes such an engineering challenge – its geographical location also poses difficulties. With winter temperatures falling as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius, conditions are extremely harsh for workers, tools and machinery alike. Drawing on their engineering expertise, our technicians know exactly which individual components will be able to withstand these sub-zero temperatures when the plant is completed. At the same time, Linde Engineering keeps a close eye on asset efficiency. Some plant components are so large and heavy that they can only be transported over long distances by ship. With waterways frozen for much of the year delivery of plant components calls for some ingenious logistical planning.

As one of the world’s leading plant engineers, Linde Engineering is thus now involved in a project of key importance for the entire region. The new ethylene plant is set to make the local plastics industry, with its rising demand for feedstock, less reliant on imports.

Another unique and much-acclaimed technology project is located close to the Norwegian town of Hammerfest, 600 kilometers to the north of the Arctic Circle. Linde Engineering constructed a plant on the island of Melkøya to pre-purify the natural gas extracted from the Barents Sea, cool it to minus 160 degrees Celsius, and convert it into liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The LNG is then loaded onto tankers. This was a highly challenging engineering project in that the plant had to be able to withstand snow and ice for long periods of the year. Because of the harsh climate, our engineers decided that key plant modules should be built at dedicated yards in Europe rather than on site.

Europe’s most northerly natural gas liquefaction facility has been in operation since 2008, now producing over four million tons of LNG every year. With the Melkøya project we demonstrated our ability to modularize process plants and key components and transporting them to their final destination.

Tobolsk2 and Hammerfest are two prime examples of challenging locations – not just in terms of climate but also because of their infrastructure. Since natural gas deposits are often located in such remote regions, we decided to set up the Competence Center Modularization. The aim is to synergize engineering, procurement and construction skills to bring manageability, efficiency and cost gains to our customers. The Center bundles our expertise in this field to manufacture plants or plant components at dedicated yards before transporting them to their destination. Whereas in earlier projects, modularization tended to be factored into the workflow at the planning stage, our engineers now explore this option at the very outset of a project. We currently have a global network of yards where complete modules or even entire plants can be prefabricated. The well-versed teams at these huge facilities enjoy the benefits of working in a safe environment with fixed cranes and scaffolding and a much lower risk of adverse weather conditions.

Australia is home to another example of an EPC project where a client was able to benefit from our modularization expertise. Linde Engineering shipped a complete, ready-to-run nitrogen removal unit, or NRU, to a plant down under. It was integrated into the country’s largest natural gas facility in order to increase the calorific value of the natural gas and allow it to be fed directly into the local supply grid. Linde Engineering constructed the main component of the 900-ton NRU: the coldbox. Its design was specially adapted to conditions in Australia, such as the composition of the local natural gas and changes over its service life. Linde Engineering was responsible not just for the entire planning stage but also for the procurement of all the components and the assembly of the modules. In other words, a one-stop service. Coordination was one of the main challenges with this project. In order to minimize assembly costs on site, the plant was modularized and pre-assembled in Europe before being transported to Australia by ship. Our experts had to design a large number of plant components, and procurement was tasked with ensuring that each of them was available on time. When it came to assembly, we complied with the strictest test and safety regulations. Thanks to close cooperation across all Linde experts, we were able see this ambitious project through to its successful completion.