In Germany, the Catalysts Division of global chemicals major BASF and the Engineering Division of compatriot The Linde Group have agreed on a collaboration to serve natural gas processing applications using BASF’s adsorbent technology and Linde’s adsorption and membrane technology. With the combined capabilities of materials expertise from BASF and engineering expertise from Linde, the two companies are well positioned to expand their global leadership position in natural gas applications.
According to a joint statement, membrane technology that can process gas high in carbon dioxide (CO2) is becoming increasingly important in the natural gas industry. The ability to treat gas high in both heavy hydrocarbons and CO2 will allow BASF and Linde to serve a part of the industry that now must rely on high-cost alternatives.
The collaboration brings together two leading companies in the fields of adsorbents, adsorption and membrane technology. Customers are said to benefit from simplified technical and procurement processes as well as increased reliability and performance of the membrane process.
One-stop solution benefits
BASF’s innovative “Durasorb” adsorbents will be used to improve Linde’s high-performance membrane processes, which provide stability and selectivity advantages over competitive membrane processes. BASF and Linde will perform the required design work to ensure that the adsorbent is well suited to the membrane.
The partnership leverages the strengths of both companies and expands the market reach of Durasorb, allowing BASF to serve together with Linde an even greater portion of the fast-growing natural gas industry, said Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President Process Catalysts at BASF.
Linde will supply both units to the customer required to process natural gas: the membrane unit and the pretreatment unit located upstream, applying Durasorb. This arrangement will simplify the technical and procurement processes for the customer as well as increase the reliability and performance of the membrane process.
We are enthusiastic to cooperate with BASF in this strategically important market. Proper and sophisticated pretreatment of natural gas is key to deploy the full potential of high-performance membranes, said Tobias Keller, Executive Vice President of Linde Engineering’s Product Line Adsorption and Membrane Plants.
