Williams advances Geismar olefins plant restart
Williams Partners LP said it plans to resume ethylene production as soon as next month at its rebuilt and expanded Geismar, La., olefins plant following a series of delays after a 2013 explosion at the site (OGJ Online, June 13, 2013).
All major construction related to the plant’s rebuild, expansion, and safety-related upgrades has been completed, and the plant is scheduled to begin manufacturing ethylene for sale in November, Williams Partners said.
General contractors for the expansion and rebuild projects have demobilized, and Williams Partners’ operations personnel currently are directing the dry-out the plant, which has entered the final stages of commissioning and start-up, the company said.
The 600 million-lb/year Geismar expansion project has the plant’s ethylene production capacity to 1.95 billion lb/year from 1.35 billion lb/year, with Williams Partners’ share of the total capacity amounting to about 1.7 billion lb/year.
While the company previously had revised the plant’s restart date to September with plans to begin first ethylene sales in October, commissioning was delayed following a decision to install $20 million in safety-related equipment and to provide additional contingency associated with the start-up process (OGJ Online, Aug. 5, 2014).
The company’s rebuild and expansion work at Geismar follows a June 2013 explosion that originated in the area of the plant’s propylene fractionator, killing two workers (OGJ Online, June 25, 2013).
Following the June incident, Williams Partners proceeded with repair and expansion work at Geismar for an initially planned restart in April (OGJ Online, Dec. 12, 2013).
