1. End of Term Presentation
Sean Street
2016 Spring & Summer Technical Co-Op III at BYO
Mentor Ben Radtke
Manager Brad Caldwell
2. lyb.com
First, A Slide About Me
Company Confidential 2
Chemical engineering
Graduation Spring 2018
Spring and Summer 2014 co-op at MIO LDPE & LLDPE
Study abroad sparked motivation to travel
Background and importance to me
Family
Education - University of Arkansas
Experience
Interests
Everyday activities: reading, cooking & exercising
Graduation Spring 2017
Earned full ride for full-time MBA
Manager Phil Cunningham
Mentors Steve Jenks & Katelyn Ackerman
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Safety Moment
Ethylene Handling
Company Confidential 3
Background
– Ethylene vapor is drawn from pipeline
– Pressure must be ‘let-down’ for BYO
– ‘Safe margin’ must be maintained
– What check signals are used for
operating this procedure?
T-H Diagram for Ethylene
• What could go wrong?
– Ethylene decomposition, embrittlement
– Cavitation, control instability
• What precautions should we take?
– Pressure up slowly
– Purge system well
• Can we do the job safely?
– Yes we can
Temp (C)
Enthalpy(BTU/lbmol)
B
CD
Ethylene
Pipeline
1300-1400 #
VAPOR C2=
Shell & Exxon
let-down skids
850 # VAPOR C2=
Cat, ELN or DLN
let-down skids
400 # VAPOR C2=
A. Drop pressure
B. Reheat
A
B
C
D
A
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Main Projects: An Overview
Company Confidential 4
Railcar Loading
Steam Condensate Recovery
Tasks Given:
• CLN flake-loading loading heads
• DLX loading spacers
Tasks Initiated:
• Radar level indicators for silos
Installation Costs: $70,000 to $100,000
Annual Savings: $1,500,000
Tasks Given:
• OSBL pressure pump
Installation Costs: $40,000 to $50,000
Annual Savings: $20,000 to $30,000
• DLN flake-loading loading heads
Economics drive priorities
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Railcar Loading: CLN & DLN Flake-Loading Loading Heads
Company Confidential 5
Background
– BYO PP loading has 3 levels
• HHC, HC & metocene
– Metocene PP mounds when loaded
– Avg. Metocene Load Weight: 125 KLBS
without a loader
– What can be done to increase these
weights?
BYO HC Loading
Date
WeightofPolymer(lbs)
07 201601 2014
Dispersion PlatesDispersion Cone
Results
– Recommended an extra loader be used
– Designed two dispersion loading-heads
– Organized Metocene trials
– Trials indicate dispersion plate is better
– Cost of 20 dispersion-plate heads $20,000
– Savings of each railcar $5500
– 125KLBS to 155KLBS savings: 180 RC/Year
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Railcar Loading: DLX loading spacers
Company Confidential 6
Background
– BYO produces 3 PP types
• Pellets, flake & metocene
– Spherical pellets are extruded and then
pressure-loaded
– Pressure-loading pellets is time
efficient and HHC capable
– DLX load-capacity is 195,000 lbs
Results
– Investigated loading chute
• Low pressure; LSH drives valve feeding system
– Previous spacer trial: 210,800 lbs achieved
• Limited by amount fed, not high level
– Design loading head spacers
– BOM + Installation < $10,000
– Annual savings > $450,000
High Level in DLX Railcar Compartment
2’
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Railcar Loading: Radar Level Indicators for Silos
Company Confidential 7
Background
– BYO transfers flake and pellets through
intermediate and blending silos
• Purge time
• Buffer between production and load rates
– Transition and railcar loading impact
of no level indication
– LLO successful radar level indication
Results
– MDR written and approved
– BOM + Installation < $25,000
– Annual savings > $175,000
– Increase transition efficiency
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Steam Condensate Recovery: OSBL Pressure Pump
Company Confidential 8
Background
– BYO Catalloy OSBL uses HP steam
– Pure, condensed steam should be
recycled
– Catalloy OSBL condensed steam is
diverted to the ground due to its low P
– How economical is it for BYO to
recover OSBL condensate?
Results
– Material balance for 6 OSBL users yields
annual loss of $25,000 (14.75 MMLBS SC)
• PI trends for majority of equipment
• Leg-work required for E8601 ethylene let-down
heater
– Cost of steam-driven pressure-pump +
collection drum < $60,000
– Rate of Return: 2-3 years
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Other Tasks Requiring MOC
Company Confidential 9
Catalloy Additive Process Redesign
– Piping diversion to prevent downtime
– Pressure drop and material balance
– Downtime savings >= $262,500
CLN Catalyst Preparation
– Create procedure & record-sheet
– Prevent N2 from causing process upsets
– Potential savings per incident >= $300,000
Catalloy Additive Vent Vacuum Gauges
– Oxygen yellowed 11 lots in 2015
– Vacuum pressure gauges provide visual
aid in keeping nitrogen seal on system
– Size and install 6 gauges
PSV Replacements
– Spec sheets & PSSR’s for 16 PSV’s
– Replace PSVs with new makes and models
Catalyst close-up
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Other Activities
• 13 MOC’s & 1 MDR approved
• 10 JSO’s, 3x EHAT follower & 3x EHAT lead
• All CBT’s completed, all ZPASS’s attended
• Complex organizer for summer co-op exchange
• Global Safety Day JUST DRIVE booth-lead
• 2x Gulf Coast Regional blood donor
• 2016 River, Lakes, Bays ‘N Bayous Trash Bash
• Pulled chicken cook-off at BYO
• 2 weeks of nights with A, B & C shift
Company Confidential 10
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A Special Thanks
• Ben Radtke
• James Korenek
• Dan Klang
• Cheryl Salmonson
• Vu Pham
• Brad Caldwell
• Tony Wood
• Kevin Brown
• Christopher Bruick
• Bob Deborde
• Teddy Cuaping
• Walt Holaday
• Keith Burnikell
• Keenan Witsken
• Jonathan Soileau
• Frank Nnam
• Dorothy Brewer
• VPF documentum team
• A, B, C & D shifts
• Robert Frantz
• Gary Graham
• Debbie Vass
• Jimmy Stoecker
• David Ayling
• JC Beaugh
• Chris Clark
• Mahendra Arora
• Rudy Magbual
• Jack Forsyth
• Eli Clark
• Ryan Ebel
• Mike Ballard
• Seneca Rinehart
• Sam Ruiz
• James Debaylo
• David Parkinson
• Ken Mannino
• Alejandro Calvo
Company Confidential 11
Timing: 10-15 seconds
Make clear the following
“My name is Sean Street, and today I will present my progression as a technical co-op through 2 co-op terms – the spring and summer of 2016.
My mentor is Ben Radtke and my manager is Brad Caldwell.”
Timing: 1 minute
“And with that, I will take us to the safety moment”
FAMILY FOCUS RATIONAL
A company that doesn’t care about my family is not a company I want to work for.
Inversely, a friend offering a constructive criticism or critique for something of self interest is a friend I’d be honored to work with.
OTHER DETAILS
Financial Accountability – I currently have no debt, Credit Score of 740
Receive undergraduate scholarships allowing me to attend college for $1000.00 per semester.
Parked Cars for football and basketball games with my roommate, earning combined revenue of $16,000 over 2 years.
Worked to fund full $25,000.00 program study abroad cost.
Received full tuition + stipend for pursuit of MBA at the University of Arkansas.
Purchased my own car, pay for all costs associated with it except insurance.
I still am covered by my family’s life, medical and dental insurance until I am 26 under the Umbrella of the Afordable Care Act.
Undergruaduate Achievements
3.65 GPA in Honors Chemical Engineering Curriculum at Arkansas
Undergraduate Research in Supported Vector Machine Positioning project -- Our 2 man team finished first out of 10 other electrical engineering design groups.
- topic: use an SVM to find Wi-Fi signal strengths and understand horizontal and vertical positioning within a building based on those relative strengths.
- result: we put in the work, troubleshooted the issues, presented our successful findings and won the competition
Undergraduate Research in biosynthesis of ethanol-based biodiesel from cereal processing fines.
- topic: generate commercially viable process for generating biodiesel from cereal processing fines
- result: prepared feedstocks, reaction sequence, separations process and generated biodiesel. Fermentation was restricted due to a salt bridge, yielding low concentrations of ethanol in product. Path forward was suggested and the research group is performing second round of research.
Other interests
Active member of AICHE, honors college, and intramural competitions at the university of Arkansas
Received 3 scholarship offers to play Division III soccer across the United States.
I am my best at racquetball, soccer, golf and beach volleyball.
I also play rugby & basketball, scuba dive, rock climb, hike.
I enjoy reading; my favorite authors include Malcolm Gladwell, Bryan Stevenson, Steige Larrson & Alexander Dumas.
I enjoy cooking; feeding the other co-ops and neighbors BBQ Chicken & Ribs, Ceviche Tacos, Guacamole & sangria are among my favorites.
I also volunteer quite a bit, 7 times this year alone.
What I studied in Ireland:
a. Literature review over hexavalent chromium alternatives in anti-corrosion market
b. Catalyst design
c. Chromatography
d. Design of experiments
e. Process Planning/Design
f. Bioprocess separations
Travel: It is one of my top priorities
While abroad – I travelled to England, Italy, Northern Ireland and Spain
While on internship - I travelled with other LYB Co-Ops to Atlanta, Austin, Baton Rouge, Costa Rica, Denver & New Orleans
To reduce potential for ethylene decomposition, material imbrittlement, valve cavitation and control instability, it is important to follow the procedure and understand why.
In understanding why, an ownership enters the thought process and operational excellence is improved.
Why is it important for us to keep this safe margin?
What happens when two-phase region is crossed?
Operating too close to the two-phase boundary could lead to valve cavitation and general control instability
When pressurizing, crossing the 2 phase region increases the risk of ethylene decomposition.
Under conditions of high pressure and temperature, ethylene can decompose to methane and carbon.
This highly exothermic reaction, once initiated, is difficult to terminate.
If allowed to continue, the decomposition could result in loss of containment, with the potential for fire or explosion if ethylene finds and ignition source.
What precautions should we take?
Procedures for operating pressurized pipelines should:
Exclude oxygen
Pressurize slowly and allow heat to dissipate
Depressurize slowly and add heat
Why enthalpy remains constant in throttling process:
Pressure is reduced with no shaft work, little heat transfer and relatively small changes in kinetic energy
Why no heat transfer?
Throttling devices are usually very small: i.e. small surface area not conducive to heat transfer
How is expansion accounted for across the valve as pressure is decreased?
Exit velocity and kinetic energy increase
Background
BYO technical and operations teams determined railcar loading and utilities would be good opportunities for me to showcase my work ethic, technical ability and other characteristics.
BYO loses money by loading railcars inefficiently and by not recovering condensate.
Ben Radtke, Brad Caldwell, and the technical team provided direction to me when I arrived.
My Action
I was advised to save BYO as much money as quickly as possible.
I chose to focus more on railcar loading improvements by looking at the economics – which I learned throughout the semester.
Understanding there was a larger opportunity to improve railcar loading, I made railcar loading my top priority.
I initiated 2 efforts to improve railcar loading at BYO.
My Results
Railcar loading was my top priority; however, I made efforts to confront both issues and improve the systems.
I pursued the 3 given tasks and initiated 2 of my own projects.
All 5 tasks are described in this presentation.
Each slide for these 5 tasks provides support for the installation costs and annual savings shown on this slide.
Rationalization
BYO loses more money per month by loading railcars inefficiently than by not recovering condensate.
This is two fold:
On one hand, railcar loading loses the site money because of its inefficient loading systems.
On the other hand, BYO consumes a large percentage of the steam it purchases from Air Liquide and can only recycle a certain amount of clean condensed steam.
If condensed steam, which has come into contact with the hydrocarbon-rich process, is sent Air Liquide to be recycled, then the risk of hydrocarbon decomposition and/or mechanical equipment damage becomes heightened.
Background
BYO operations and sit-yard crew work very well together to achieve the maximum load-weights the systems allows.
Pellet load-weights on average are 210,000 lbs.
Flake load-weights on average are 190,000lbs.
Metocene load-weights on average are below 140,000 lbs.
The railroad allows for a maximum load-weight of 215,000 lbs.
Engineering is required to increase the system capacity to match or have the potential to exceed the railroad-determined load-weight limits.
These relatively low metocene load-weights are due to the coarse, rigid, & non-spherical nature of the particle leading to a high affinity for mounding.
My Action
To correct for this affinity, I designed 2 low-cost, low-weight & durable aluminum loading head designs to be compared with trials during a metocene campaign.
Using a stopwatch and the same load chute, I am loading one compartment of multiple railcars using each design.
The design which loads the metocene flake for the longest period of time and appears to have loaded the compartment the best will be deemed the more dispersive design.
If that design is the dispersion cone, then no ergonomic additions will be required.
The cost of this design and implementation will be less than $25,000.
On the other hand, if the dispersion plates prove to be more effective, then a gas spring will be a required addition.
Also, basket heights will need to be shrunk, the proper length of plates will need to be discovered, and the load chute will need to be altered.
The cost of this design and implementation will be less than $40,000.
These designs are much cheaper than much more costly spin-loading pressurized designs.
My Results
I recommended an extra loader be used to disperse the flake manually after working with the crew during a week on nights.
I am expecting the weight of a ‘full railcar’ to be increased from 125,000 lbs (without the loading heads nor a designated loader) to 155,000 lbs.
Each car shipped from BYO costs Lyondellbasell $5,500.
80 metocene cars are loaded monthly.
This expected 30,000 lb increase will result in 15 railcars saved monthly.
This equals an annual savings of $1,022,000 annually.
The cost of the additional loader for just CLN and DLN flake loading is a separate cost which I am justifiably not privy to and therefore cannot include.
Pending success of these dispersion heads on metocene flake, pursue higher load-weights on CLN and DLN flake products.
Heavy Hopper business analyst team reported HHC potential for DLN flake products, they misunderstood my desire to pursue HHC load weights for CLN and DLN flake products.
The potential annual savings if flake products across CLN and DLN have the ability to be loaded at HHC weights using one of my designs accounts for a majority of the extra $1.5MM associated with railcar loading projected annual savings.
Background
BYO operations and sit-yard crew work very well together to achieve the maximum load-weights the systems allows.
Pellet load-weights on average are 210,000 lbs.
Pellet load-weights from DLX on average are 190,000lbs.
The railroad allows for a maximum load-weight of 215,000 lbs.
Engineering is required to increase the system capacity to match or have the potential to exceed the railroad-determined load-weight limits.
These relatively low DLX load-weights are due to the low pressure of the system and the timing-sequence activated by the level switch on the loading heads.
Chris Dollarhide performed trials using the spacer shown in slide 4.
A weight of 210,800 lbs was achieved.
My Action
Chris was the D-line production engineer who performed the trials in 2014.
He left, and 2 years later, I arrived and was asked to improve railcar loading.
I investigated the loading chutes at DLX.
I came to realize the blowers pushing the pellets through the loading chutes were half the capacity of those at CLX.
This affects the rate at which railcars can be loaded; however, it doesn’t affect the weight that can be loaded into a railcar with the current system.
With CLX capacity blowers, DLX could load railcars twice as fast; consequently, the expansion of blower capacity is included in the upcoming D-line debottleneck.
I also came to realize the effects of the level switch attached to the bottom of the loading chutes.
These vibrating level switches trigger a time-based sequence which allows a set amount of polymer into the loading chute system before shutting the valve feeding said polymer.
This timer has been set so that the level of polymer doesn’t reach the outlet of the loading chute since it is a low pressure system and cannot physically move the loaded polymer out of the way like ELX and CLX can.
To correct for this lack of pressure, I designed a low cost, low-weight & durable aluminum spacer similar in nature to the existing loading-chute fitting.
This spacer adds 6 inches of loading capacity to the top of each railcar compartment and will provide DLX the ability to load HHC weights.
The BOM and implementation costs will be less than $10,000.
The timing associated with the LSH may need to be altered.
Spare boots will need to be present when first using this system in case the timing is off.
Conservative timing should be used when starting.
Expect 1 boot to be blown on each of the 4 loading heads before timing is configured.
Cost of boot replacement: minimal.
My Results
I am expecting the weight of a ‘full railcar’ to be increased from 195,000 lbs to 210,000 lbs.
Each car shipped from BYO costs Lyondellbasell $5,500.
600 DLX pellet-loaded railcars were loaded during the first half of 2016.
This expected 15,000 lb increase will result in 43 railcars saved annually.
This yields an annual savings of $470,000 annually.
Background
BYO operations and sit-yard crew work very well together to achieve the maximum load-weights and transition-efficiency the systems allows.
Level indication exists for CLN and DLN intermediate flake silos and CLX pellet blending silos; however, these indicators are out of service and proved unreliable when in service.
Without level indication, board operators and outside operators are blind to excess material in these silos – or the absence thereof.
Installation of radar level indication for each of the identified areas will increase transition performance, amount of quality product sold, and railcar loading weight efficiency.
Prime material sold as off-spec material due to ineffective current level indicators in the identified areas is represented by an annual loss of $175,000.
A differential margin of $0.05/pound between off-spec material and prime material is an assumption used here.
Level indication in these areas will also increase the amount of polymer loaded into each railcar.
Installing radar level indication will pay itself off in 1 month and can be installed without process downtime.
Level indication exists for ELX and DLX intermediate silos and their load weights and transition performance exceeds those of CLN, DLN & CLX.
Lake Charles uses these radar level indicators for a similar application and has had success.
My Action
I worked on nights for 2 weeks with board and outside operations with a focus on railcar loading optimization.
This MDR was a resultant action item.
Work with maintenance/reliability principle specialist Ken Mannino & Lake Charles engineers to find correct instrument for our application.
Justification for the MDR can be seen below the results.
My Results
MDR# 2016-BYO-012 was approved on 7/21.
Installation of devices will not require any downtime.
Total cost of project is less than $25,000.
Annual savings are >$175,000.
MDR Justification
Reliable level indication for CLN and DLN intermediate flake silos and CLX pellet blending silos will increase both transition efficiency and railcar loading efficiency.
$175,000 represents the portion of annual losses associated with prime polymer being sold as off-spec material due to a lack of level indication in the intermediate silos on CLN and DLN
CLN metocene flake products have a tendency to fail for high gels due to lack of purge time in TK42501. This purge time deficit would be reduced with reliable level indication
Railcar loading inefficiencies due to an absence of level indication are too granular and must be represented in other ways
The basis for this MDR is shown below
While upgrading level instrumentation in these areas will not perfect transition timing, it will address losses presented here while also providing sufficient & reliable data for a future integrated transition-timing project– an idea which provides substantial benefit for MIO LLDPE
CLN & DLN FLAKE TRANSITION ANNUAL LOSSES: 175,000$
During product transition, when product properties are changed to meet customer demands, operations and technical have no reliable indication for the amount of polymer remaining in CLN & DLN intermediate flake silos, prime product is mixed with off-spec material (and vice versa) when silo levels aren’t drained completely, and the prime product in this mixture must be loaded into a railcar and sold as off-spec or transition material. Reliable level indication will solve the black box problem associated with running intermediate silo levels to zero.
CLN transitions between products sold as flake 60 times annually
DLN transitions between products sold as flake 10 times annually
Reliable level indication can improve transition timing by as much as an hour. At expected rates, an hour of improved transition timing would result in 50 MLBS of product being sold as prime material rather than as off-spec material
For 70 transitions, 3.5 MMLBS of material would be sold as prime vs non-prime
With 0.05$ per pound differential margin, 3.5MMLBS sold as prime material rather than off-spec material results in 175,000$ increased profit annually
CLN METOCENE TRANSITIONS ANNUAL LOSSES
When level in TK42501 is allowed to get too high, the ability for metocene flake products to purge is reduced, and each hopper car loaded with this polymer is flagged for high gels
More than 10 cars have been flagged for high gels during the first half of 2016
If one car is saved from failure for high gels during a year, installing radar level indication on TK42501 is justified because of differential margins between prime metocene flake material and downgraded material
With level indication on TK42501, level would be monitored, metocene flake products would have increased purge time, and the number of cars flagged for high gels would be more controlled
CLX PELLET BLENDING TRANSITION/STARTUP LOSSES
Level indication in CLX pellet blending silos will increase both railcar loading efficiency and the percentage of prime material sold as prime material.
If 10000 pounds of prime material has no place to go due to high level in the prime blending silos, it is sent to the off-spec pellet blending silos, and the prime product margin is lost
Upon experiencing this a few times, operations and technical pursue a more conservative path toward loading the silos, serving as the basis for inefficient loading techniques
Two railcars saved throughout the course of a year would pay off the cost of upgrading these level indicators
Background
Hot water is desired as a feed to steam generation as it reduces energy and – to a lesser extent – resource demand.
BYO consumes steam for various applications in producing polypropylene and catalloy materials.
BYO receives the steam it consumes from its utilities provider, Air Liquide.
Air Liquide, and most utilities providers will charge extra when condensed steam is not returned.
This charge accounts for the cost of extra energy and resources required to meet the demand.
I was given the task of understanding how economical it is for BYO to recover condensed steam from the catalloy unit’s OSBL area.
My Action
To understand the economics I performed a mass balance on every steam consumer in the catalloy unit OSBL area.
To do this, I used PI tags associated with each piece of equipment & historical data from PI Processbook.
For equipment without these luxuries, I provided and documented legwork.
I looked at adding piping to recover the condensed steam.
I also looked into a high-pressure steam-driven pressure pump and collection pot design.
My Results
I calculated that 14.75 MMLBS of steam condensate could be recovered from catalloy OSBL annually.
This represents a potential $25,000 annual savings.
The piping proposal is not feasible as the pressure of the condensed steam was too low to be raised the necessary 20’ to get in the piperack.
The pressure-pump & collection-pot design was estimated at $50,000-$60,000 by our planner for the previous utilities engineer.
My calculations prove her estimated 2 year rate of return.
I will present these calculations to management.
Catalloy Additive Process Redesign - economics
25KPPH Catalloy production rate.
3.5 day shutdown required to perform maintenance on this system.
2 day shutdown scheduled.
1 transition lot associated with this maintenance.
1.5 days of shutdown and 1 transition lot saved because maintenance could be performed while the plant was running at prime rates.
0.35 $/lb is the value of Catalloy material assumed.
262,500$ savings.
CLN Catalyst Preparation – economics
ZN-126vs catalyst created on ELN was transferred to CLN for use.
This was a habit created over time by operations to mitigate cleaning responsibilities in CLN catalyst preparation drums.
When doing this, nitrogen was used to transfer the catalyst mud into and out of the totes used for transporting the material from ELN to CLN.
Process upset occurring on February 12, 2016 costs $250,000 – Nitrogen entered the syringes leading to spiked temperatures and runaway reaction.
Catalloy Additive Vent Vacuum Gauges
A nitrogen blanket resides over our additive system.
When additives are added, a vent must be opened.
There is potential for oxygen to enter the system if operations does not see the positive pressure dropping.
Local pressure indication mitigates that risk.
The 11 cars in 2015 were downgraded and sold as off-spec.
195,000 lbs loaded into each railcar.
Differential margin of 0.05$ per lb – underestimate.
11*195,000*(0.05) = 107250$
PSV Replacement
