2017 Senior Plant Design Competition Winners Announced
The top presenting teams have been announced for the Senior Plant Design Competition in partnership with INEOS Olefins & Polymers USA (INEOS). The winning team includes seniors Marco Heredia, Lindsay Johnson and Fizza Rizvi.
The event, part of the Process Design and Operations course known as “plant design”, had 21 teams presenting design solutions to tackle a real-world engineering challenge put forward by INEOS representatives.
This semester’s challenge was to design and analyze an industrial process for the production of the polymer Nylon 6,6. Students were required to consider the location of the plant, how to qualify for tax incentives, new technology and the economic analysis of the project.
Teams gave a 45-minute presentation and were evaluated by industry representatives including INEOS black belt manager Gerri Hazel, plant manager Mike Hazel, and process engineer Kevin Corn, as well as Professor Michael Poehl, the course instructor.
Teams were assessed on teamwork, visual aids, technical merit and innovation, project feasibility, forecast capital and equipment specs, energy optimization and financial evaluation, site evaluation, risk analysis, process flow diagram controls and health and safety.
The judges praised the winning team for their detailed site selection process and for evaluating the economics of the process. The design team utilized a tremendous amount of heat integration in their process and performed an amazing hazard and operability (HAZOP) review. They selected Texas City, Texas as the site for their facility and elected to build a separate facility in Decatur, Alabama in order to qualify for a tax incentive. These key points among an excellent presentation allowed the team to stand above many other outstanding designs.
The top teams are:
| FIRST PLACE
Gerri Hazel (Judge, INEOS), Marco Heredia, Kevin Corn (Judge, INEOS), Michael Poehl |
SECOND PLACE
Gerri Hazel (Judge, INEOS), Sydney Overman, Kevin Corn (Judge, INEOS), Michael Poehl |
| THIRD PLACE (TIE)
Gerri Hazel (Judge, INEOS), Annie Zhang, Choongze Lee, Kimberly Lansangan, Kevin Corn (Judge, INEOS), Michael Poehl |
THIRD PLACE (TIE)
Gerri Hazel (Judge, INEOS), Nisheet Dabadge, Olivia Haddadin, Nicholas Possis, Kevin Corn (Judge, INEOS), Michael Poehl |
Tags: chemical engineering, INEOS, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor Poehl, Senior Plant Design Competition Winners, Texas ChE, University of Texas at Austin