A changing Hydro

Henning Reier Nilsen.
“N
othing could be better than boos-
ting productivity and at the same
time achieving environmental
benefits,” says Director of Technology
Henning Reier Nilsen of Hydro Polymers.
“Excellent collaboration between Polymers’
R&D department and operations environment
is the key to the improvement projects that
generate better returns and make our busi-
ness more sustainable,” he says.
Reier Nilsen is one of the most experienced
petrochemical technologists in Scandinavia.
Though he has contributed to many develop-
ments, he is keen to stress that it is the inter-
play between all those involved that counts.
“Such projects are largely about developing
a process from an idea, via the laboratory and
pilot project, through to a fully-fledged plant
process. Many different kinds of challenges will
arise along the way. We technologists need to
be involved, following up operations and help-
ing to identify solutions to the problems that
occur,” he explains.
Last year was the best ever for Polymers
operations, and particularly for the VCM plant
at Rafnes in Norway. An important reason for
this success is a project that has resulted in
lower energy consumption per produced unit
and the possibility of increasing production.
“Research and development is often
considered complicated and difficult to make
accessible, but it is often the little things that
produce the best results – as for example
when we decided to install an empty pipe on
the cracker furnace at the VCM plant. This
enables the reaction to continue after the
process gas has left the furnace, without the
need to supply more heat”.
The result is 15 percent lower energy con-
sumption and 15 percent greater production.
“Others have tried this out before us, but
failed. This technology is now being installed
at QVC in Qatar, where Polymers have a 30
percent share. We hope to achieve the same
effect there,” says Reier Nilsen.
The improvements completed in 2006 en-
able even more ambitious targets to be set in
2007. Reier Nilsen is targeting daily produc-
tion of 1,550 tonnes at the Rafnes VCM plant,
which was originally designed for 900 tonnes
per day.
“The future will be all about the introduction
of biological raw materials; bringing renew-
able resources into the vinyl chain. Ethylene
gas and chlorine are the most important raw
materials in today’s PVC production. There are
several ways of extracting the ethylene of the
future from natural materials; one of them is
to gasify wood and obtain it via methanol, but
we are working on other ways also,” explains
Reier Nilsen.
Hydro has patented a technology that is
based on hydrogen-conductive membranes.
This may prove to be extremely useful for
Polymers.
“We can imagine using this technology in a
process where CO 2 emissions are dramatic-
ally reduced. The advantages are that CO 2
emissions will be very low and the ethylene
processing plant compact and efficient,” says
Reier Nilsen.
“Leading the field in the technology area,
with a complete understanding of our pro-
cesses, provides us with the opportunity of
being the operator in the industry that makes
the best possible use of resources, while pro-
ducing even better financial results.”
hi! > Trond Aasland
photos > Terje S. Knudsen, iStock.com
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