Shanghai – A rigid polyurethane foam made from BASF’s Elastopor-Cryo system has been used to insulate the first Very Large Ethane Carrier, or VLEC.
The insulation was applied to the ship by Shanghai Harvest Insulation Engineering.
The as-yet-unnamed ship is being built at the shipyard in Jiangnan. It is 230m long, and has a total volume of 99,000m3. It is designed to carry liquid ethylene gas (–104°C), liquid petroleum gas (–40°C), and other cryogenic liquids down to about 164°C, BASF said.
The company added that, as well as being a good insulator, the Elastopor-Cryo system can handle the stresses and strains caused by large volumes of cryogenic liquids in stormy seas.
