Top Plant Design Presenters Announced

Industry judges from Ineos Olefins & Polymers USA (INEOS) and FLUOR recently selected top presenting teams for the spring senior plant design course.

The competition, part of the Process Design and Operations course known as plant design, had 27 teams presenting their own ethylene manufacturing process design with a full economic analysis.   Teams gave a 45 minute presentation and were evaluated on: teamwork, visual aids, technical merit and innovation, forecast capital and equipment specs, energy optimization and financial evaluation, site evaluation, risk analysis, process flow diagram controls and health and safety.

Ethylene, derived from Ethane, is a byproduct of shale gas, and is the basic building block of the petrochemical industry. Ethylene is used to create products ranging from plastics and packaging to detergents and antifreeze. Developments in shale gas have led to a recent boom in Texas and around the country which is driving a manufacturing revival and high demand for new plants and improved processes.

The best student designs will be compared to designs produced by leading industry consultant firms for consideration in plant construction for the Texas Gulf Coast Region.

This semester’s winning plant design teams are:

First Place Team Name: 1T Front row: Bradley Chester, Trang Nguyen (Judge, FLOUR) and Susan DeCourcy (Judge, FLOUR) Back row: Jim Harris (Judge, INEOS), Jorge Eduardo Lopez, Heming Bai, Silvia Guevara and Katherine Cook (Judge, FLOUR)

Second Place Team Name: 2T Front row: Trang Nguyen (Judge, FLOUR) and Parthiv Bhakra Middle row: Jim Harris (Judge, INEOS), Golay Dai Nie, Ming-Han Lee, and Katherine Cook (Judge, FLOUR) Back row: Boyang Hang and Susan DeCourcy (Judge, FLOUR)

Third Place Team Name: 8T Front row: Ahmad Khalid Omar Middle row: Jim Harris (Judge, INEOS), Jackie McKnight and Trang Nguyen (Judge, FLOUR) Back row: Yaniv Brener, Katherine Cook (Judge, FLOUR), Susan DeCourcy (Judge, FLOUR) and William Kriegshauser

Tags: chemical engineering, plant design, plant processes, shale boom, shale gas