Yokogawa Provides Automation for Chevron Phillips Petrochemical Project

Nov. 25, 2013

Chevron Phillips Chemical named Yokogawa Electric the main automation contractor (MAC) for its USGC Petrochemicals Project, set to begin construction early next year.

Aaron Hand,

Aaron Hand

With site preparation well underway for its U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petrochemicals Project, Chevron Phillips Chemical has named Yokogawa Electric as its main automation contractor (MAC). First announced in March 2011, the project received board approval early last month. It will include a 1.5 million metric tons/year (3.3 billion lbs/year) ethane cracker and two new polyethylene facilities, each with an annual capacity of 500,000 metric tons (1.1 billion lbs).

The ethane cracker will be built at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas, and two polyethylene units will be built at a site in Old Ocean, Texas, near the manufacturer’s Sweeny plant. The state-of-the-art, world-scale polyethylene units will be able to produce a wide variety of high-density and linear low-density polyethylene products, including bimodal and metallocene-based polyethylene polymers. The flexibility of the units will allow for growth of current blow molding, injection molding and film grades.

The USGC Petrochemicals Project, expected to begin construction early next year, will create about 400 long-term direct jobs and 10,000 engineering and construction jobs.

“We are proud to be part of one of the first grass roots ethylene and polyethylene plants to be built in the U.S. in a very long time,” said Chet Mroz, president and CEO of Yokogawa Corp. of America.

As the project MAC, Yokogawa will supply the control systems, safety systems, remote instrument enclosures, and the analyzer shelters and analytical systems. The control system platform will be based on Yokogawa’s Centum VP integrated production control system. Though classified as a distributed control system (DCS), the Centum VP goes beyond a traditional DCS by offering a more intuitive HMI and a large-capacity field control station to process data faster while maintaining high reliability. The dual-redundant configuration of processor cards, each paired with two CPUs (pair and spare configuration), ensures uninterrupted operations and high availability.

About the Author

Aaron Hand | Editor-in-Chief, ProFood World

Aaron Hand has three decades of experience in B-to-B publishing with a particular focus on technology. He has been with PMMI Media Group since 2013, much of that time as Executive Editor for Automation World, where he focused on continuous process industries. Prior to joining ProFood World full time in late 2020, Aaron worked as Editor at Large for PMMI Media Group, reporting for all publications on a wide variety of industry developments, including advancements in packaging for consumer products and pharmaceuticals, food and beverage processing, and industrial automation. He took over as Editor-in-Chief of ProFood World in 2021. Aaron holds a B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University and an M.S. in Journalism from the University of Illinois.