Page 23 - Plastics News October 2016

Company News
Evonik and Linde intensify collaboration for Polymer-based
Membrane Technique
Global technology company The Linde Group and the
specialty chemicals group Evonik Industries within
the framework have intensified their collaboration in
the area of membrane-based gas separation of the
groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of Evonik’s
membrane production facility held in Schörfling (Austria)
on September 30. The heart of the collaboration
comprises Evonik's polymer-based membrane technology,
which will be used in the gas separation and purification
plants of Linde’s Engineering Division. With this,
Linde completes its
portfolio, combining across the globe.
all relevant gas
separation processes
within one company.
Evonik’s SEPURAN®
membranes enable
gases such as
methane, nitrogen,
helium, and hydrogen to be particularly efficiently
isolated in pure form from gas mixtures, thanks to more
selective separation and higher productivity. Tobias
Keller, head of the Adsorption and Membrane Plants
Product Line at Linde’s Engineering Division, said:
“Evonik's high-selectivity membrane in combination
with our other established gas separation technologies,
such as our world-class adsorption technology, allows
us an extraordinary flexibility in the development and
application of new and more efficient purification
processes. We are thus strengthening our position as the
leading company for gas separation technologies over the
entire lifecycle of a plant.”
Dr. Axel Kobus, head of Evonik’s Fibers, Membranes &
Specialties Product Line, said:
“The synergies arising from the collaboration between
our two companies are evident: The translation of
our profound polymer and technology expertise into a
powerful and wide-ranging membrane product portfolio
perfectly complements Linde’s high expertise in plant
engineering and gas separation. The combination offers
the ideal conditions to jointly develop new markets for
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gas separation.”
The collaboration between Evonik and Linde has already
resulted in a reference plant for helium purification in
Mankota (Canada), which started up in August of this year;
this first-of-its-kind helium purification facility uses a
hybrid process of membrane and Pressure Swing Adsorption
(PSA) technology. The new plant processes 250,000 cubic
meters of crude gas every day, producing industrial-quality
helium of 99.999 percent purity. As among the leading
players in the international plant engineering business,
Linde Engineering has delivered more than 4,000 plants
Braskem opens first European
technology center
Br a z i l ' s B r a s k e m
SA has invested
around 5 million
euros to build a new
European technology
center within its plant
in Wesseling, Germany.
The new equipment
at the technology
center provides
instrumentation for testing, application development
and new product research. The official opening
ceremony was set for October 7, when the plant
celebrates its 25th anniversary of operations. Braskem
already operates two polymer technology centers
worldwide; one in Triunfo, Brazil and one in Pittsburgh.
Braskem Europe chief executive Srivatsan Iyer, said:
“We are pleased that we now have the capability to
develop new products directly for the European market
and to provide enhanced technical support to our
clients. “Our capabilities in research and development
here in Europe, along with the expertise and facilities
in our other global technology centers, will continue
to enable Braskem to expand its technical leadership
in polyolefins.”