Apr 18 2005
In February Uhde, a ThyssenKrupp Technologies company, was awarded its second contract from the Oslo-based multinational company Norsk Hydro for the turnkey construction of a chlor-alkali electrolysis plant at Rafnes, some 100 kilometer south-west of Oslo. As in the first contract awarded in May 2003, it again concerns an electrolysis plant based on the energy-saving Uhde single-element membrane technology with a capacity of 130,000 tonnes per year of chlorine and 146,000 tonnes per year of caustic soda. The new plant will replace the existing diaphragm electrolysis plant and be integrated partly into the existing plant complex.
The contract includes the basic and detail engineering, supply of all equipment and the construction and commissioning activities. The contract is worth some 60 million euros.
The job site was opened on the 8th of March with the symbolic turning of the first sod. Completion of the plant is scheduled for the second half of 2006. The first plant will start production as early as mid-2005.
"In the last five years alone we have been awarded contracts for the supply of environment-friendly membrane electrolysis plants with a cumulative capacity of more than 3 million tonnes per year of chlorine, almost 1 million tonnes of which relates to plant conversions. This unparalleled success of our single-cell membrane technology and the satisfaction of Norsk Hydro with the execution of the first contract were the crucial factors in Uhde being awarded the follow-up contract," said Klaus Schneiders, who is the Uhde Executive Board member responsible for the electrolysis division.
"The conversion of this plant to best available Uhde membrane technology will not only increase cost efficiency and thus strengthen the Rafnes plant`s competitive position in chlor-alkali and vinyl chloride production, but also make a sustainable contribution to environmental protection," emphasised Anders Hermansson, President of Hydro Polymers, the petrochemical sector of Norsk Hydro.
For more information on electrolysis, click here.