Global Bioenergies has announced receipt of the last large unit operation, the purification skid, at its demo petrochemical/refining complex in Leuna. This unit was pre-assembled by Sulzer at its manufacturing site and was shipped as a single 10 m high skid, then craned into Global Bioenergies' facilities.
Ales Bulc, CEO of Global Bioenergies' German subsidiary, said, "The purification skid, which will allow us to obtain high purity isobutene, was shipped perfectly on time. The Leuna Demo plant large process equipment placement is now complete. The remaining steps of construction will be dedicated to establishing all of the various connections between the different process units as well as to the flare, the water treatment plant, and the various utilities. Sectional connections and commissioning will occur in phases over the course of the summer. The first run is expected this autumn."
Richard Bockrath, VP for Chemical Engineering, said, "The Leuna Demo plant will be a smaller scale replica of a commercial production unit. This demo plant will be used to complete the development of the technology, to train the teams, and to get ready for technology transfer to IBN-One and to our future other licensees."
Adapted from press release by Francesca Brindle