OREANDA-NEWS.   Siluria Technologies, a pioneer in the commercial production of fuels and chemicals made from clean and abundant natural gas, and The Linde Group, a world-leading gases and engineering company, announced today that they have entered into a collaboration agreement. The primary objective of the agreement is to combine the respective company’s technologies and expertise into an optimized and integrated package which Linde would license to the petrochemicals industry for both revamps or expansions at existing ethylene plants and for new world scale ethylene plants.

“We are extremely pleased to enter into this partnership. Linde is clearly one of the leading technology and EPC service providers to the global ethylene industry. This partnership strengthens our technology platform and enables a world class go-to-market licensing strategy,” commented Andrea Redford, Director of EPC Partnering and Capital Projects at Siluria.

Over the past six months Linde has completed an extensive technical and economic diligence process on Siluria’s oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) technology, which catalytically converts methane directly to ethylene. The success of this joint diligence effort resulted in the formation of this strategic relationship. The companies have formed joint teams, which will fully integrate the company’s respective technologies and collaborate through the final scale-up and demonstration of the OCM technology at the previously announced demonstration plant that Siluria is constructing at Braskem’s site in La Porte, Texas.

“Our technology platform can enable a diverse set of opportunities ranging from solutions to flared gas, to large scale gas monetization, to specific industry applications such as refining and LNG terminals. However, our top two priorities are the ethylene industry and the Midstream or gas processing industry. So establishing this partnership with the top technology provider in the ethylene business at such an important time in the industry is a great fit for us,” said Ed Dineen, CEO of Siluria Technologies. “We look forward to a mutually highly beneficial long term partnership with Linde.”

“The oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) has been ranking for decades as the most ambitious innovation target in the field of ethylene technology. Linde is a leading player in this market and is fully committed to work with Siluria at the aim to broaden the feedstock slate for ethylene production,” said Professor Dr Aldo Belloni, Member of the Executive Board of Linde AG.

The companies expect to be offering the technologies to the broader ethylene industry in the second half of 2015. Siluria is currently engaged in feasibility studies with selected operating companies in the ethylene industry focused on the initial commercial deployments. “For Linde this exciting technology opens new business opportunities and is another contributor to our leading position in olefin technologies,” said Dr Samir Serhan, Managing Director of Linde’s Engineering Division.