The unit for producing the liquid hydrocarbon dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), which the ORLEN Unipetrol Group built on the premises of its chemical site in Litvínov, became the Best Technical Building of 2022.

Intecha was the general contractor of the construction project. The competition was organised for the 19th time by the Chamber of Engineers under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry for Regional Development.

As part of the evaluation, the panel of experts mainly assessed the building’s technical execution, functionality and utilised technologies. A record 74 cross-sector engineering designs were submitted to this year’s competition, with 39 projects of exceptional quality making it to the final round of assessment. The DCPD production unit was opened last autumn, and the construction costs totalled CZK 831 million.

“We are pleased about the award from the Chamber of Engineers and see it as an appreciation of the entire team that worked on the construction of the DCPD unit. For us, it does not only mean a victory in a competition but also recognition of our work and efforts to innovate the chemical industry. The construction of the unit was preceded by a multiple-year research and development in collaboration with scientists from the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague. Our designed and implemented method of distilling dicyclopentadiene is quite unique. I am delighted that we underscored the uniqueness of this production solution with the construction of a modern, fully digitalised production unit that is at the top of available production possibilities in terms of technology,” says Tomáš Herink, a member of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group’s board of directors responsible for production, research and development.

The panel of experts recognised the project as a unique technological building. According to the jury, it is extensive work comprising the complete construction of a new DCPD unit, involving the work of our authorised persons in the field of technological equipment of structures. These attributes attracted the judging panel so much that they awarded it the main prize.

“The structure was also unique because of the effective collaboration of the academia, the future operator, and us as the general contractor. The initial idea was to utilise the waste product from the steam cracker to produce a product in great demand. The investor required an end-to-end turnkey installation, i.e., the construction of the entire production unit, including the control centre, a training simulator, storage tanks, and a distribution terminal,” said Richard Marcalík, head of Intecha’s implementation team. He also added one curiosity: “The history of the place of the construction was a big surprise for us. When excavating the production unit’s foundations, we found an unexploded air bomb weighing 250 kg from the massive air attacks at the end of WWII. The entire ORLEN Unipetrol site had to be evacuated; the traffic between Most and Litvínov was interrupted, and the bomb was disposed of by the bomb specialists of the Police of the Czech Republic.”