

New Ethane Cracker Stoves for Ineos Project ONE Arrive in Antwerp Out of the Mist
On Wednesday last week, the first two cracking stoves for Project ONE’s new ethane cracker arrived on COSCO SHIPPING’s heavy lift vessel Zhi Yuan Kou in the Port of Antwerp. It was one of the largest industrial shiploads ever in the port of Antwerp. This is an important milestone in the realisation of INEOS’ investment in a new chemical plant in Antwerp.

Early morning drone images show ship during the trip via the Berendrecht lock to the INEOS chemical plant in Lillo in the Port of Antwerp in the afternoon.

The stoves weigh no less than 6000t, are more than 32m wide and 60m high – as high as the Antwerp MAS. They form the heart of the ethane cracker that INEOS are building in Lillo. The furnace section ie where ethane is converted into ethylene by bringing the ethane to a high temperature in the presence of steam.

John McNally, CEO of INEOS Project ONE said, “The arrival of the first stoves at the site in Antwerp after a long overseas journey is a spectacular and joyful moment for everyone involved in the realisation of our project. There is no longer any way around it, Project One is no longer a virtual project on paper, but is gaining a foothold in Antwerp. It is enormously motivating to see a chemical site really emerge after all these years of preparation. A lot of work will have been done in 2024 and in 2025 the focus of construction activity will be fully on Antwerp.”
Source Belgium