Engineering solutions provider Emerson Process Management has signed a $150-million deal to provide automation and reliability technologies and services for petrochemical firm Carbon Holdings’ Tahrir petrochemicals project at Ain Sokhna, Egypt.
When completed, the $6.9-billion Tahrir project, in Egypt’s Suez Special Economic Development Zone, would be the largest petrochemicals plant in Egypt and the largest naphtha cracker plant globally.
It would produce 1.5-million tons of ethylene a year, which would then be further processed into polyethylene. Other major products would include propylene, polypropylene, hexene, butadiene, benzene and styrene.
As main automation contractor, Emerson would design the plant, while providing consulting services and equipment health monitoring, as well as establish a reliability service centre for ongoing local support and expertise.
“Investments of this size require us to select partners that have a long history of handling large, complex projects and the expertise to produce a reliable plant with dependable output.
“We chose Emerson for its proven ability to deliver a successful automation project that results in an efficient, high-availability operation,” said Carbon Holdings CEO Basil El-Baz.