21-01-2014

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions receives contract for aerosol dimethyl ether plant

Plant engineering and construction specialist ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has been awarded a contract for the extended basic engineering package and license for a dimethyl ether (DME) production facility in Shchekino, Tula region, located about 200 km south of Moscow. The contractor is DME Aerosol LLC, a joint venture of JSC Shchekinoazot (Pervomaysky, Russia) and PCC SE (Duisburg, Germany). The new plant with an annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons of DME will be integrated into the existing production site of JSC Shchekinoazot at Shchekino.

Methanol, which serves as a feedstock for DME production, can be supplied directly from recently installed methanol facilities at JSC Shchekinoazot’s production site. Aerosol grade DME is primarily used in the cosmetics industry as a propellant for hairsprays as well as in the production of insulating foams, and demand in Russia is growing significantly. The DME produced will have a purity of not less than 99.99 wt.%.

The basic engineering package is scheduled to be delivered to the client within six months. Construction of the new dimethyl ether plant on the site of JSC Shchekinoazot is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015. To ensure adherence to specific Russian rules and standards, one of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solution’s local affiliates in Dzerzhinsk, Russia, will support the engineering work. Upon completion of the project, this DME plant will be the first of its kind in the CIS and Eastern Europe capable of delivering a product that meets the requirements of cosmetics and perfume production in full.

The production of Aerosol grade DME requires specialist expertise and specific design features, particularly with respect to reactor design and downstream DME purification, which are crucial for proper plant operation and high product quality. Based on its own DME process technology, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions has built several aerosol DME plants, both for a major DME producer in Germany as well as for clients in Australia and South Africa.