Siemens To Upgrade Brazilian Gas-Fired Plant

Siemens has agreed a deal to modernise and operate a gas and hydrogen fired cogeneration plant in Brazil, the German company announced April 9.

The contract with Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, will see Siemens fit new gas turbines at the cogeneration unit at its Petrochemical Complex in Sao Paulo. Completion of the project is expected in early 2021. Siemens will then launch 15-year operation of the electric and steam plant.

“The plant’s state-of-the-art technology solutions will combine high energy efficiency and extreme operational reliability with low emissions,” Siemens said in a statement. Braskem estimates that the upgrade project will reduce CO2 emissions from the plant’s cracking unit by 6.3%.

The two SGT-600 gas turbines Siemens will install will feature third-generation dry low emissions (DLE) technology and run on residue gas with high concentrations of hydrogen.

“The integrated and redundant design of the facility and use of Siemens equipment, coupled with the adoption of a build, own, and operate business model will result in 100% plant availability and reduced energy consumption, both of which are critical to Braskem’s business,” claimed head of global solutions for Siemens Gas and Power, Oil & Gas Dan Simpson.

“The modernization will help us meet our sustainability goals by reducing the facility’s overall energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that of a city with one million inhabitants,” said Braskem Chemicals’ southeast region chief industrial officer Luis Pazin.