Hydrocarbon Processing - January 2022 - 12

Executive
Viewpoint
STAN KNEZ, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
Technip Energies, Houston, Texas
Decarbonizing ethylene production
and ESG mandates, as well as anticipating
how to meet current and future low carbon
requirements. Today customers are
asking us, " What are the pathways to low
and zero carbon? " Of course, the main
themes are CO2
recycled feedstocks.
HP: In terms of decarbonizing
ethylene production, where is
that current technology?
SK: First, we want to reiterate that enSTAN
KNEZ is the Chief Technology Officer for
Technip Energies and is part of the Executive
Committee. In this role, Mr. Knez manages the
company's technology portfolio, leads the
innovation and R&D programs and oversees
the company's product lines. He has more
than 25 yr of industry experience in the global
upstream and downstream industry, strongly
focused on technology portfolios and alliances.
Previously, Mr. Knez was Senior Vice President
of Process Technology for Technip Energies
and its predecessor, TechnipFMC, President of
Technip Stone & Webster Process Technology,
and Executive Vice President of Technology for
Shaw Energy & Chemicals Group. He also served
as Vice President of Downstream Operations for
KBR Energy and Chemicals.
Mr. Knez earned an MS degree in chemical
engineering from Cleveland State University and
an MBA in finance and international business
from the University of St. Thomas. He earned his
Bch degree in chemical engineering from Case
Western Reserve University.
Hydrocarbon Processing (HP) sat down
with Stan Knez (SK), Chief Technology
Officer, Technip Energies, to get his
insights on decarbonization, digital and
process technologies and sustainability
within the processing industries.
HP: At present, what are some
of the main topics your clients
are focused on?
SK: We see a concerted focus on energy
transition. Companies are looking to
implement their sustainability strategies
12 JANUARY 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
ergy efficiency remains the starting point
of energy reduction and decarbonization,
so there are still ways for us to improve
energy efficiency and hence lower emissions.
Recently, we designed a low-carbon
furnace that can mitigate up to 30%
of CO2
emissions.
We have also developed an ethylene
decarbonization roadmap, which outlines
the pathways that will allow the ethylene
industry to move to net-zero. Key facets
of that roadmap include:
* The use of hydrogen as a fuel
* CO2
capture
* Emissions reduction
(e.g., low-carbon furnace)
* Electrification.
The main issues with these solutions
are the economics and having a route to
store or use the CO2
.
HP: Regarding carbon capture,
there has been a significant uptick
in news about CO2
capture over
the past year. In your opinion,
is CO2
capture available today?
SK: The technology to capture CO2
from post-combustion streams is available
today. Of course, we have been
capturing CO2
from process streams
for a long time across many industries,
but post-combustion streams are the
ones that are, of course, very important
to decarbonize many industries, so that
technology has been proven at industrial
scale, mainly in the power sector.
Technip Energies can offer carbon capreduction
and the use of
ture technology to be applied to new and
existing crackers. I would say the challenge
is to continue to innovate and improve on
the CAPEX (capital expenditures) and
OPEX (operating expenditures).
The other thing we must think about regarding
carbon capture applications is what
to do with the CO2
once it is captured.
HP: Regarding the ethylene
decarbonization roadmap,
two of the specific items you
mentioned were electrification
and hydrogen. What role do you
see electrification playing in the
future of ethylene production?
SK: It has a significant role to play.
However, the extent to which it will be utilized
to reduce, for example, ethylene plant
CO2
emissions depends very much on the
continued reduction of the carbon footprint
associated with electricity generation.
The cost and availability of large quantities
of low-carbon electricity from renewable
sources is needed. Then, we must develop
new technologies-such as electrically
heated furnaces-that can then deploy this
electrification in chemical plants.
In an ethylene plant, the steam cracking
furnace utilizes hydrocarbon fuel to
provide the endothermic heat required for
the cracking reaction. We have designed a
proprietary furnace that can electrify the
cracking operation. This approach avoids
CO2
emissions from the cracking furnaces.
In addition, we can take advantage of
low-carbon electricity using electric motor
drives instead of steam turbine drives
on the main compressors.
HP: Where do you see hydrogen
playing a role in ethylene
production?
SK: Hydrogen has significant potential
for energy generation on a global basis, as
hydrogen burns without generating CO2
.
We are looking at displacing fresh hydrocarbon
fuels with hydrogen. For example,
at our Rotterdam test facility, we success
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