• Cracker electrification is one of SABIC’s key pathways to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and has the potential to reduce associated CO2 emissions by over 90%
  • This collaboration bolsters SABIC’s existing pipeline of developments in cracker electrification

SABIC, a global leader in the chemicals industry, has signed an agreement with Coolbrook, a transformational technology and engineering company, to assess Coolbrook’s Roto Dynamic ReactorTM (RDR) technology in support of decarbonizing ethylene production.

SABIC is committed to achieving its stated decarbonisation ambitions – 20% reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050 – and in supporting customers in achieving their own decarbonisation ambitions.  This new collaboration is one of SABIC’s many active programs aimed at reducing, and ultimately eliminating, the CO2 emissions from manufacturing facilities as well as supporting customers on their energy transition journeys.  One very promising option is the electrification of steam cracking plants which, in conjunction with the use of renewable power, has the potential to reduce the Scope 1 and 2 emissions linked with ethylene and propylene production by over 90%.

Aruna Subramanian, Managing Director, SABIC Ventures, said, “This reaffirms SABIC’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2050 through, among many pathways, the electrification of steam crackers. Collaborations with, and support of external innovations, such as Coolbrook’s RDR technology, is a testament to SABIC’s interest in driving our industry and world forward.”

In addition to pressing ahead with the commercialization of near term available electrification technology, SABIC, via SABIC Ventures, its global corporate venturing arm, continues to stimulate the industry ecosystem and invest in a pipeline of early stage technologies with the expectation that some of these, once fully developed, can be commercialized to support SABIC’s and the wider petrochemicals industry’s transition towards carbon neutrality. SABIC believes collaboration and partnership are key to achieving its ambitious climate targets in line with the industry’s growth aspirations.

Joonas Rauramo, CEO of Coolbrook, said: “SABIC is a global leader in petrochemicals, and we have already established a close cooperation relationship in The Netherlands, where both companies have a strong presence. We are confident that together we can have a significant impact on reducing the climate impact from ethylene production here and globally.”

SABIC is already working with partners BASF and Linde to develop and commercialize technological solutions to the challenges associated with electrically powered steam cracking and anticipates the commissioning of the world’s-first commercial-demonstration scale electrically powered cracking facility later in 2023.  Furthermore, SABIC has selected cracker electrification with the SABIC-BASF-Linde technology for inclusion in its 1st Adopter Program with the ambition for having a full commercial-scale electrical cracking furnace in operation at one of its manufacturing facilities within the next several years. 

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ABOUT SABIC VENTURES

SABIC Ventures is the global corporate venturing arm of SABIC, with footprints in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. At SABIC Ventures our goal is to work with globally ambitious start-up companies who have the desire to take business to the next level, to help solve global sustainability-related challenges. SABIC Ventures supports SABIC’s technology goals in the fields of carbon neutrality, circular economy, sustainable agrinutrients and differentiated materials and process solutions for our customers. We achieve this through collaboration with innovative startups, using venture capital instruments with strategic technical and commercial agreements to accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies.

ABOUT SABIC

SABIC is a global diversified chemicals company, headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It company has more than 31,000 employees worldwide and operates in around 50 countries. It manufactures on a global scale in the Middle East, Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high-performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals. Fostering innovation and a spirit of ingenuity, SABIC has 10,090 patents and pending applications, and has significant research resources with innovation hubs in key geographies around the world. SABIC supports its customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end-use applications such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation, and clean energy.

ABOUT COOLBROOK

Named Tech Champion 2022 in the Manufacturing category by The Financial Times, Coolbrook Ltd. is a transformational technology and engineering company on a mission to decarbonise major industrial sectors such as petrochemicals and chemicals, iron and steel and cement. Coolbrook's revolutionary rotating technology combines space science, turbomachinery and chemical engineering to replace burning of fossil fuels across all major industrial sectors. The technology has two main applications: RotoDynamic Reactor (RDR) to reach 100% CO2 free olefin production, and RotoDynamic Heater (RDH) to provide carbon-free process heating to iron and steel, cement and chemicals production. Backed by a growing number of governments, technology partners, industrial producers and environmental regulators, Coolbrook technology is set to become the new global standard in industrial electrification. For more information, please visit: www.coolbrook.com