NOVA Chemicals E3 Ethylene Plant
Shaw has helped one of its customers to set a new, competitive benchmark in North America's petrochemical industry by providing essential services for an E3 grassroots ethylene plant at Joffre, Alberta, Canada.
Shaw won the contract by NOVA Chemicals to provide project management, technology licensing, process studies, process design, basic engineering, detail furnace engineering, furnace procurement services and construction management.
The plant was part of a massive, four-year NOVA expansion program, in financial conjunction with Union Carbide/Dow. With a capacity of 1275 KTA (2.81 billion pounds per year), the plant was the world's largest single-train ethylene plant at project completion and incorporated several noteworthy scale-related engineering and layout concepts to reduce costs.
Shaw undertook intensive layout studies to minimize investment and maintenance costs. Shaw also incorporated several new design features to balance energy demand and availability, placing emphasis on minimum equipment capacity and cost for ethane cracking.
Despite the harsh climate and environment, Shaw completed the project on schedule. Shortly after startup, Shaw worked with Union Carbide/Dow to expand the plant capacity.