Texas & SoutheastTexas & Southeast Construction NewsBest Projects2015

Best Energy/Industrial: BASF Corp. Emulsion Polymers Production Plant

BASF's Verbund site in Freeport, Texas — *PHOTO: ALISSA HOLLIMON*

Zachry Group was selected to provide full-scale engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for a new production plant at BASF’s Verbund site in Freeport, Texas. The plant produces emulsion polymers for use in architectural coatings, construction chemicals, adhesives and the paper chemicals industry.

The project included a single reactor and column as well as product storage and loadout facilities, built within the existing integrated BASF facility in Freeport, where a previous plant was decommissioned and demolished.

Managing a full-scale EPC project in the midst of the fully operational chemicals complex required an enormous amount of coordination, so BASF project team members were embedded in Zachry’s Omaha design center for more than a year. Weekly, sometimes daily, model reviews kept the customer actively involved in the design. Detailed plant arrangements were reviewed to optimize available space to get all equipment to fit. Extensive meetings with vendors confirmed equipment fit and outlined future maintenance and operating perspectives.

Due to the facility’s size restrictions, 3D modeling was used extensively to coordinate equipment layout and route the piping and electrical systems.

Miles of piping were created in a fabrication shop in Freeport operated by JV Industrial Cos., which Zachry acquired in 2012. Pipe supports were manufactured at Zachry’s shop in Charlotte. Additional materials and equipment arrived from around the country as well as a few pieces of equipment from Germany. Space limitations required careful timing on the delivery of materials and scheduling of craft teams to minimize disruptions to the owner’s operations.