The tallest lift has been completed for the 1.5 million-tonne/year ethane cracker at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP’s Cedar Bayou petrochemical complex at Baytown, Tex.
A joint venture of Fluor Corp. and Japan’s JGC Corp. is performing engineering, procurement, and construction of the cracker and associated offsite components (OGJ Online, Apr. 8, 2014). The project is the first greenfield cracker project in the US in more than a decade and will be one of the largest crackers in the country when completed, Fluor says.
Over the past 3 months, Fluor says it has executed nine mega-lifts at the site by erecting the major pieces of equipment that will be used in the plant’s operations.
Each lift was more than 275 tons, with three of the lifts weighing more than 500 tons. The final lift, to erect a C2 splitter—used for olefin separation—that is part of the ethane cracker, was more than 250 ft tall and weighed more than 570 tons. Two cranes were needed to lift the unit, which weighs more than 300 cars. All nine lifts were completed safely and on schedule.
Construction has begun on the furnaces and aboveground piping systems. Plans for additional expansion at Cedar Bayou were reported in late 2014 (OGJ Online, Nov. 7, 2014).
