In April 2003, Dow Chemical Co. started up a gas treating pilot plant in Freeport, Tex., to help customer operating companies minimize the risk involved in altering gas plant operations, said the company.
The new facility enables companies to preview the impact of a potential system change before full-scale implementation in their own plants. To demonstrate the effects of an operational change on a customer facility, said the company, the Dow pilot plant mimics the performance of large-scale commercial gas treating equipment, particularly carbon dioxide absorbers and strippers.
After collecting equipment and operating data from a customer's facility, the pilot plant simulates the customer's performance accurately. When the customer is confident the unit is simulating current operations, modifications to equipment or solvent are made in the pilot plant and the results are displayed clearly.
The pilot plant's data-acquisition capabilities, says the company, allow precise and extensive measurements of such factors as gas treating capacity, product quality, circulation requirements and energy costs.
The customer has the flexibility to identify the operating conditions most important to its business. The pilot plant can then provide detailed reports of how the modification has affected those specific parameters.
Customers are also able to view the tests as they occur, either on site or from a remote location. To observe the process from a remote location, customers connect to the pilot plant control room through a secure line, only accessible from a Dow computer connected to the Dow intranet.
