Lummus crude-to-chemicals technology to debut at Korean megaproject

Houston, Texas – Lummus Technology has announced a first commercial deployment of its licensed TC2C crude-to-chemicals technology at S-Oil’s Shaheen project in South Korea.

S-Oil, in which Saudi Aramco is the majority shareholder, recently confirmed its final investment decision on the Shaheen project, according to a Lummus press release issued 16 Dec 2022. 

Once complete, it said, Shaheen will be one of the world’s largest ethylene plants and the first commercial deployment of TC2C technology.

S-Oil’s new plant will deploy several Lummus and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) technologies to process crude to produce ethylene, propylene, butadiene and other basic chemicals. 

Upon completion, the plant will have an annual production capacity of up to 3.2 million tons of petrochemicals.

“TC2C increases chemical yield more than any other crude-to-chemicals technology currently under development, while also enhancing energy efficiency, reducing carbon intensity and lowering operating costs,” said Leon de Bruyn, president and CEO of Lummus Technology. 

S-Oil’s final investment decision “puts us closer to revolutionising petrochemical production and transitioning to more sustainable processes,” added de Bruyn.

TC2C converts crude into value-added chemicals in an integrated process combining Lummus’ ethylene technology with Saudi Aramco’s separation and catalyst technologies and CLG’s hydroprocessing catalysts and reactor technologies. 

TC2C is claimed to maximise conversion of crude at lower carbon intensity, higher energy efficiency and lower capital than conventional refinery/petrochemical complexes. 

The technology enables processing of low-value refinery streams, such as slurry oil and pyrolysis oil, and can be tailored to maximise production of olefins, aromatics or any combination.

In 2018, Saudi Aramco Technologies Company, Lummus and CLG entered into the joint development agreement for the development, commercialisation and marketing of TC2C.