IRVING, US: Fluor Corporation (FLR) said that it has safely finished the mechanical construction of The Dow Chemical Company’s (DOW) new ethylene production facility in Freeport, Texas on schedule.
Fluor provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services on the 1.5-million-tonne-per-year light-hydrocarbon cracker, which can use both ethane and propane as a feedstock. The ethylene produced by the facility will be used as a building block for many of Dow’s industry-leading performance plastics products.
After receiving the contract in 2013, construction began in 2014, with more than 3,000 Fluor craft employees and subcontractors on site at a peak to deliver the project on schedule. The project also achieved more than 5 million consecutive work hours without a lost-time incident.
In support of craft workforce development, Fluor partnered with area community colleges and high schools to encourage the pursuit of construction careers and performed more than 2,300 craft performance assessments and evaluations throughout the project.
In addition to the ethane cracker, Fluor was also responsible for a 750,000-ton-per-year propane dehydrogenation unit, which was completed in 2015. Dow’s Freeport, Texas complex is the largest integrated chemical manufacturing complex in the Western hemisphere.
“This project was successful because of the strong partnership and collaboration between Dow and Fluor. We are proud to complete this important project with Dow to enable them to take advantage of the area’s shale gas resources and grow their key downstream businesses,” said Mark Fields, president of Fluor’s energy & chemicals business in the Americas.
© Worldofchemicals News