Project Highlights

KoSa selected Fluor to provide engineering support for converting its Wilmington, NC, site from an existing system of seven independent control systems of various legacy types to a modern central Distributed Control System (DCS) located within a state-of-the-art Control Room Facility.

• Fluor provided the necessary engineering during the front-end engineering phase to create a definitive cost estimate.
• With the ensuing approval by the board, Fluor was directed to create the detail design deliverables required to implement the project execution plan jointly developed by KoSa and Fluor.
• The main project challenges were related to the installation of the DCS within an operating environment and the impact to the design related to the nature of a retrofit-type project.

Fluor was awarded a Basic Engineering Package for DSM’s grassroots synthetic rubber EPT-3 project in Geleen, The Netherlands. Due to the successful execution of this phase, DSM also contracted Fluor to perform the Engineering, Procurement and Construction Phases.

• Major unit operations for this synthetic rubber process are monomers drying, solution polymerization reactors, catalyst deactivation and extraction, degassing, stripping and crumb formation, crumb dewatering, drying and packaging.
• The new plant is to be integrated within the existing two plants at Geleen.
• Several existing process and logistics systems required modifications, as these systems will become shared.
• The project’s scope for the FEED-phase included the preparation of a Basic Engineering Package and the corresponding forced detailed cost estimate and the subsequent EPC-phase estimate including development of EPC-execution strategies, schedules and selection of alliance partners.
• The project was executed by an integrated team of Fluor engineering personnel and DSM operations, maintenance and engineering personnel.
• During the EPC phase, Fluor applied a multi-office execution strategy utilizing Fluor’s Haarlem office (The Netherlands) as the main operating center and Fluor Prosynchem (Poland) for Detailed Engineering and Design.

Fluor was contacted by AECI to help scale up an in-house laboratory process for lysine production. Over the course of three years, we jointly conducted three conceptual studies with AECI and assisted with evaluation of the fermentation pilot plant operation and data. At the end of that period, the process was substantially finalized and we were awarded a contract for the design of a commercial-scale plant.

• The design utilized a first-of-a-kind technology; large-scale commercial fermentation process that had never been practiced in South Africa. Local vendors had not previously supplied equipment to the required sterile standard.
• A fully integrated team from AECI and Fluor executed the project. AECI performed civil, electrical and control engineering, procurement, inspection and expediting while Fluor provided structural, mechanical and piping engineering. Fluor's systems were used to track procurement progress. We managed the construction under the direction of AECI's project manager, and we also assisted with the start-up of the facility.
• The project was completed on schedule, despite a 6-week interruption during the transition to a new government. The project was approximately 18 percent below budget due to the use of innovative techniques in the execution of the project.

Fluor developed conceptual and front-end engineering design for this pilot facility that produces photoresistant polymers used in the semiconductor industry.

• The scope involved the conceptual design and specification of systems for the generation of ultra-pure water, as well as systems for solid filling and solution filling in a Class 100 / 1000 clean room environment, a filter/dryer and hot oil package.
• The project included two pilot lines - one small-scale and one large-scale - to process both liquid and solid product.
• Flexibility, accessibility, process control, and safety were the critical design features for this first-of-a-kind production facility.
• The front-end design phase was completed in less than 20 weeks.
• This ultra-clean plant used all glass-lined, or perfluoroalkoxy-coated equipment.
• Process and instrumentation design, layout, and safety reviews were conducted at various stages of the project.

Fluor was the program management contractor for the total project responsible for performing the front-end engineering design (FEED) and the procurement of critical equipment and materials. We also prepared the appropriation cost estimate for Phase I. For Phase II, Fluor provided engineering, procurement, and construction services for the utilities and offsites, as well as polymer engineering and procurement services.

• The expansion facilities provide 800,000-metric-ton-per-year ethylene capacity and convert ethylene into 535,000 tons of polyethylene and 410,000 tons of ethylene glycol. In addition, it provides 260,000 tons of polypropylene.
• Fluor's Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) programs of Value Engineering, Value Awareness and Constructability identified significant savings for this project and reduced or eliminated schedule risk.

Fluor, Snamprogetti, and Tecnofluor contracted with Mobil/Pequiven to complete front-end engineering and capital cost estimating services for the Jose Petrochemical Complex.

• Major petrochemical process units include Ethylene 750,000 metric tons per annum (MTA); Linear Low-density Polyethylene (LLDPE)-300,000 MTA; Low-density Polyethylene (LDPE)-200,000 MTA; and Ethylene Glycol 400,000 MTA.
• The José Olefin Complex received an Independent Project Analysis “Best in Class” rating of 4.25. Instrumental in assigning the rating was the fact, cited by the IPA, that Fluor and Snamprogetti brought the project through front-end loading (FEL) in 11 months compared to the industry average of 16 months. The José Olefin Project also incorporated 11 of 12 possible Value Improving Practices (92 percent). Each practice enhanced the quality of project definition.

Fluor was awarded the front-end engineering and program management portion of the entire project. In addition, we executed the detailed engineering, procurement, and construction management for off-plot facilities.

• The SCP petrochemical complex is a grassroots facility designed to produce 480,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTA) of benzene, 220,000 MTA of cyclohexane, and 372,000 MTA of gasoline blendstock from a naphtha-based feedstock.
• Through the successful application of Chevron's “CPDEP” process, Fluor performed well against the pacesetter targets established by the project of cost, schedule, safety, and plant attainment.

Conoco selected Fluor to develop its revolutionary petroleum-based carbon fiber. The product has unique applications in the electronics, composite materials, plastics, automotive, construction, transportation and other niche markets.

• Fluor provided support on an as-needed basis during front-end loading (FEL)-1 and 2 of the design. In 1997, we were awarded FEL-3. Upon the timely completion of front-end design, we continued with the project. Currently, we are executing detail engineering and procurement.
• Process challenges include the processing of chemicals at high pressure and temperature, and design as well as development of unique material handling systems.
• Operation of an 8-million-pound-per-year manufacturing plant began in the second half of 2001 in Ponca City, Oklahoma.

Fluor served as a full-service contractor providing engineering, procurement, and construction management services for this $90-million DuPont Nylon/Zytel® chemical manufacturing facility in Pulau Sakra Island, Singapore. We teamed with RSP for permitting and infrastructure work. Project successes include:

• Use of a modular construction approach, with the majority of module fabrication completed in the Philippines. Seventeen modules were used involving 65 percent of the construction, the largest being the continuous polymerization module that weighed 2,000 metric tons. Once completed, the modules were shipped to Pulau Sakra Island for final installation.
• Modularization approach reduced the schedule from 29 months, a consultant's initial projection, to 20 months. In addition, we saved the client approximately 10 percent of the total installed cost.
• The project received the DuPont Project Excellence award.
• "Because we were able to move many of the labor hours to another location, costs were lower, we had better control of the quality of construction, and the schedule was compressed dramatically," said DuPont Project Manager Lou Yurechko.
• The facility is designed to produce 72 million pounds per year of an engineering-grade nylon 6,6 polymer, brand-named Zytel^®. Five main process areas are located on the grassroots site: salt strike, continuous polymerization, finishing, packaging, and heat transfer areas. The two primary feedstocks are adipic acid and hexamethylene diamine.

Fluor was contracted to provide the conceptual and front-end process packages for the four derivative units of the Petronas/Union Carbide Integrated Petrochemical Complex. The design effort established detailed facility scope packages.

• The derivatives facility is being built in Kerteh, Malaysia, and consists of four units: Butyl Acetate (BA), Butyl Glycol Ethers (BGE), Ethanol Amines (EA) and Alkoxylation. These units are integrated into a $1.2 billion petrochemical complex.
• The team of engineers from Fluor and Union Carbide had to effectively integrate its effort to meet the special challenges of the project.
• The project required open and efficient communication from the team in order to coordinate with the other units of the petrochemical complex, including EOG, Butanol, and Infrastructure.
• Fluor is making a substantial contribution to the development of a new project work process (PWP) related to Process-Control Systems Engineering for Union Carbide that allows development of process and instrumentation diagrams and other deliverables more in line with the Process Industry practices.
• We have developed Project and Process Criteria with input from all Union Carbide engineering functions that provide uniform guidance to all the engineers working on the project.

EQUATE, formerly Kuwait Petrochemical Joint Venture (KPJV), selected Fluor to perform program management, supervising the overall execution of a grassroots petrochemical complex and preparing the coordination procedures, specifications, and plans.

• Our scope included complete engineering, procurement and construction for the offsites, utilities, and infrastructure.
• The total installed cost for this mega-project was US$1.4 billion.
• This petrochemical complex, located within the Shuaiba Industrial Complex, included the following plants:
  • A 650,000 metric tons per/annum (MTA) ethylene plant based on an ethane feedstock supplied by the Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation
  • A 340,000 MTA mono-ethylene glycol plant
  • A 450,000 MTA linear low-density polyethylene and high-density polyethylene plant
  • Offsites and utility facilities
• The project was financed by a combination of partner equity and commercial bank loans. KPJV used export credit agency support for the project as the means to provide the required loan guarantees to the commercial banks.
• Technologies used for the ethylene glycol and polyethylene plants were licensed by Union Carbide, and the technologies used for the ethylene plant were licensed by Brown and Root, Inc. The technologies for the mono-ethylene glycol and polyethylene units were provided by Union Carbide. KPJV purchased the technology employed for the ethylene unit from Brown and Root, Inc.
• Detailed facility scope packages were prepared for each unit.