Marathon Petroleum SRU Plant Addition (St. Paul Park, MN)

In order to support the addition of a new SRU (sulfur recovery unit) at its Minnesota refinery, Marathon needed engineering services to accommodate the network of new and modified piping and electrical connecting into that plant.  AEC was hired to do that work, which eventually entailed the routing of thousands of feet of new piping.  Complicating the design and construction was the extreme congestion of the existing pipeways, as well as the inability to shut-down adjacent operating units.  Moreover, many sections of the existing pipeways were in a state of disrepair.  Thus, the design had to enable a “build-around-the-existing-structure” concept, adding new steel (and piping) to that which was already there.  Through careful planning and execution, the program was a big success, saving the client immense cost and disruption.

Another part of the scope assigned to AEC was the design of a major new pipe bridge spanning one of the primary refinery entrances.  With a long span and height, the trussed structure’s design was further complicated by the limitations affecting both its transportation and erection over a main refinery thoroughfare.  But that major element of the project, too, was successfully accomplished, as a result of which the AEC/Idom relationship has subsequently blossomed.

Balboa Refinery (Badajoz, Spain)

In a truly unique opportunity, Idom (with AEC’s assistance) is coordinating the front-end design of a grass-roots petroleum refinery planned for the Extremadura province of Spain.  Once built, the high conversion refinery—with a capacity of 110,000 bpd—will have “one of a kind” status in several categories: the first to be built in Spain in over two decades; a wholly private ownership structure; extremely high engineering design standards; especially good energy efficiency; its location (in a distinctly rural zone, without any other comparable industrial development); virtually standalone capabilities in terms of power, water, wastewater treatment, etc.; and almost 100% reliance on pipelined crude oil feed and off-take fuels.

Working directly with the private individual promoting and financing this massive project, Idom has been instrumental in several key scope-defining tasks.  And, as the program manager for all the preliminary and FEED engineering associated with this venture, Idom has definitely employed some novel techniques to keep the program on its forward track.  In particular, having faced an unusually busy marketplace in terms of process technology licensors, it was necessary to create some customized contracts and relationships among the suppliers of the process packages.  Compliance with some very strict environmental regulations was identified early in the project as a big challenge, but so far Idom has succeeded in meeting the hurdles as they’ve arisen.

Right now, the multi-year project is moving through the complex permitting processes.  But probably before all the permits are obtained, the Idom team expects to commence the next rounds of design.  In all likelihood, that will include at least all the engineering phases for the utilities and offsites systems, and quite possibly overall program management.

Contact for Petrochemical Projects

John Hart
Email: jrhart@aecengineering.com
Office: 804-545-7907
Mobile: 804-922-3736

Kodak Tank Farm Expansion (White City, OR)

In a multi-phase project, AEC assisted Kodak in defining, and later implementing, a major expansion for its solvent tank farm.  The engineering scope included the following new facilities: rail-car and truck loading/unloading racks; remote secondary containment system; spray- and deluge-type water and foam protection; fire and vapor detection; and multi-level pipe-racks.  Also, extensive hazard analyses and safety evaluations were performed.

The project, when originally scoped by the client, involved the replacement of existing storage tanks with ten new ones, however, through careful study on the part of AEC, it became possible to just retrofit the existing tanks, rather than swapping them out for new.  That vastly decreased both the  capital costs and the construction phase impacts to the manufacturing plant.

Yorktown Refinery Expansion Project (Grafton, VA)

As an early part of a massive process expansion at its Yorktown, VA, refinery, Giant Industries (now Western Refining) hired AEC to perform thorough surveys of the plant’s utility systems.  Those studies confirmed and quantified the changes/additions needed to support the future process units.  The client then assigned AEC the task of performing the detailed designs of the affected utility and offsite equipment and piping.

Among the capital improvements ultimately engineered by AEC were a new 80,000 barrel above ground storage tank (see the above photo) for a finished fuel oil, plus a completely new relief and flare system serving the added-and some existing-facilities. The relief knock-out drum and flare stack (see the photo below, taken during construction) were erected in close proximity to operating units, and were designed to be in full compliance with the strict environmental laws and noise regulations for the site.

By the end of the two-year design engagement, AEC had worked on most of the over one dozen utility commodities that had been originally studied. But among all of those, it was only for three total systems that substantial capital equipment purchases had to be made; otherwise, AEC was able to develop practical and cost-effective ways to expand the utility capacities through piping and controls changes alone.

Husky Energy Terminal Upgrade (Superior, WI)

Constrained by an old, inherited tank farm design at a facility in Wisconsin, Husky Energy sought AEC’s help in defining the most practical way in which to revamp the two tank, single transfer pump arrangement.  That installation is used for staging and temporary storage of crude oil shipments via a network of pipelines converging at that location on Lake Superior.  It unfortunately gives the client very little flexibility.

During the first phase of AEC’s assignment, several schemes were investigated and ultimately short-listed to one in which both a new tank and pump would be installed.  The existing tanks, too, will be extensively upgraded to handle higher transfer rates and to comply with regulatory requirements.  Also, there would be major modifications to the piping and manifolding, mainly to reduce the dependence on the adjacent facility (owned and operated by others) through which shipments must be processed.  Now, AEC is assisting Husky Energy in the complicated permitting and planning efforts that will precede the detailed design phase of the project.