Dow’s Univation, Linde agree to collaborate on cracker, PE integration

Univation Technologies and The Linde Group’s engineering division have entered into a cooperation agreement aimed at providing performance and cost efficiency for the production of polyethylene (PE) resins, the companies announced on Wednesday.

The parties say they expect that this exclusive partnership will deliver measurable benefits to resin producers globally.

“Our combination of technology and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) capabilities is a key driver to deliver competitive solutions to the petrochemical industry," said Dr. Christian Bruch, a member of the Linde's executive board and responsible for the company’s engineering business. "We are excited to leverage the enormous potential synergies inherent in this close collaboration with Univation Technologies to deliver value to our existing and future customers.”

Under the agreement, Univation and Linde will work toward delivering streamlined technology, capital expense and operational expense reduction opportunities and improved quality in early-stage design to ethylene cracker and polyethylene projects. 

The companies believe this will be valuable for both new construction projects as well as retrofit projects.

Dr. Steven F. Stanley, president of Univation Technologies, expressed his company’s excitement to embark on this partnership with Linde.

"As the leading polyethylene technology licensor around the world, we are constantly looking for ways to deliver more value for our licensees," Dr. Stanley said. "This agreement with Linde allows us to take our solution-driven approach to the next level covering the entire UNIPOL PE process platform, including back-integration into cracker operations and improved economics for both new plant and retrofit projects.”

This agreement is non-exclusive for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phase of UNIPOL projects.