Flexitallic has been awarded a certificate of appreciation by JGC, Japan, for its ‘significant contribution’ to the Petro Rabigh Olefin Plants Project. JGC selected Flexitallic as its partner for the strength of its engineering and design team, together with the unique and versatile sealing properties of its Thermiculite® material.
Petro Rabigh, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical, has a planned start-up for the end of 2008. Based in Rabigh, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco will supply Petro Rabigh with crude oil, ethane and butane. Sumitomo Chemical will provide proprietary petrochemical technology and the marketing of petrochemical products.
The Rabigh facility is a world-class refinery and petrochemical complex with the centrepiece being the high olefins fluid catalytic cracker complex, integrated with a world scale ethane based cracker. These petrochemical derivative units will produce a total of 2.4 million tons of polyolefin’s per year.
Working together with JGC, Flexitallic supplied spiral wound gaskets filled with Thermiculite 835 for the fluid catalytic cracker. Thermiculite enables the cracker to perform to its highest efficiency due to the ability of Thermiculite to maintain high-sealing characteristics in the operating environment.
Thermiculite has outstanding stability to high temperature and aggressive chemicals. Thermiculite materials operate in areas where graphite based products cannot cope due graphite’s poor resistance to oxidation. Due to its unique features, Thermiculite does not oxidize and will seal for the lifetime of the joint.
