The Pennsylvania petrochemicals complex is a multi-billion dollar project planned for development by Shell Chemical Appalachia (Shell) in Beaver County, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.
It is anticipated to use low-cost ethane supplied by shale gas producers in the Marcellus and Utica basins to produce 1.6 million tonnes (Mt) of polyethylene a year.
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Polyethylene is used in the manufacture of a wide variety of products such as food packaging, sports equipment, containers, automotive components and furniture.
Construction on the petrochemicals complex began in November 2017 and is expected to be completed over a ten-year period.
The project is slated to create approximately 6,000 jobs during the construction phase and a further 600 permanent positions upon completion.
Location details
The facility will be situated on the banks of the Ohio River in Potter Township in Beaver County, which is located 50km north-west of Pittsburgh city.
Its location is considered ideal due to its proximity to gas supply and Shell’s customers.
More than 70% of its customers are expected to be located within a 1,126.5km radius of Pittsburgh city.
Pennsylvania petrochemicals complex construction
Pre-construction works on the project began as part of the early works programme, which comprises the construction of bridges, as well as the relocation and upgrade of the state highway and existing interchanges.
In addition, railway lines are to be realigned, while the new petrochemical complex’s foundations will also be prepared as part of the initial development.
The main construction of the complex commenced in November 2017.
They will be followed by site preparation developments, the detailed designing of the complex and various engineering works.
Details of Shell petrochemical project
The largest part of the facility will be the ethane cracker, which is set to consist of more than 200 components and 153km of pipeline.
The ethane cracking facility will comprise seven tail gas and natural gas fired ethane cracking furnaces featuring a rating of 60 million metric British thermal units (MmBtu) per hour of heat input each.
Its furnaces are to be equipped with low NOx burners and will be controlled via selective catalytic reduction (SCR).
One 1.5 million tonnes per year ethylene manufacturing line and two gas phase polyethylene manufacturing lines with an output capacity of 550,000t per year will also be part of the facility.
In addition, one 500,000t per year slurry technology polyethylene manufacturing line will be installed at the site.
Infrastructure facilities
The site will house a water treatment plant, laboratory, office building and 250MW natural gas-fired power plant.
Its power plant will produce electricity and steam for the complex using three GE Frame 6B, natural gas-fired combustion turbines, which are capable of generating approximately 40.6MW of power each.
One-third of the electricity produced by the power plant is expected to be fed into the local grid.
The site will also feature four diesel-fired emergency generator engines and three diesel-fired fire pumps.
Furthermore, the plant will include a 900ft (274m) cooling tower that will have 28 cell counter-flow mechanical drafts, which feature 18.3 million gallons per hour of water-flow capacity.
A co-generation tower possessing six-cell counter-flow mechanical drafts with 4.44 million gallons per hour water-flow capacity will also be constructed at the facility.
The two towers will be controlled by drift eliminators.
Facilities for transporting polyethylene via rail and road networks will also be developed.
Storage facilities
The petrochemical complex will feature facilities to facilitate the handling of polyethylene pellet blending, handling, storage and load out processes.
These facilities include one recovery oil storage tank, one spent caustic storage tank, two equalisation wastewater storage tanks with capacities of 23,775gal and 742,324gal respectively, and one light gasoline storage tank.
Two hexane storage tanks with capacities of 85,856gal and 607,596gal respectively, and two pyrolysis fuel oil storage tanks of 85,856gal capacity each will also be developed.
In addition, the plant will be equipped with a variety of miscellaneous storage tanks with handling capacities between 1,849gal and 10,038gal.
Contractors involved
Bechtel was awarded the main works contract for the construction of the Pennsylvania petrochemicals facility.
GE Energy has been contracted to supply the Frame 6B turbines for the natural gas-fired power plant.
Flenco Fluid System was subcontracted by GE to supply auxiliary systems for the project.
