PROJECT
PROFILES

Exxon BAPP Line Eight Project

This project was a national 1997 ABC Eagle Award winner for excellence in construction.

The Baytown Polypropylene Plant (BAPP) Line Eight Project at Exxon Chemical Company's Baytown, Texas facility consisted of an addition to the existing polypropylene facility that created the worlds largest single-train polypropylene plant.

ISC was brought in by Exxon Chemical and the M. W. Kellogg Company at the early stages of the project to address constructability issues concerning the electrical and instrumentation portion of the project. ISC was awarded a fixed and incentive-fee-based, cost-reimbursable contract by KCI, the construction arm of The M. W. Kellogg Company.

ISC contracted to perform 100 percent of the electrical and instrumentation work, as well as all of the process tubing and steam tracing. ISC maintained an average workforce of 90 associates over the 21-month duration of the project and peaked at 260 associates. A total of 345,000 work hours were required to complete the electrical and instrumentation portion of the project.

The project was divided into the five major tasks: site clearing for the polymerization unit, which involved the relocation of existing pole-line power; communication and fiber optic cables; the demolition of an existing rail car facility and the construction of a new facility; the addition of two new extruders and modifications to the existing finishing building; construction of a new polymerization unit; and an addition to the existing rail car loading facility.

ISC's scope of work for the pole line relocation phase consisted of rerouting existing medium-voltage power, phone, RTU communication and fiber optic cables to facilitate the construction of the new polymerization structure. This work had to be accomplished without disrupting facility operations.

During this phase of the project, ISC also installed electrical and instrumentation for the new rail car wash facility. Once the new car wash was operational, the old facility was demolished to make room for the construction of an additional rail car loading facility.

The next phase of the project involved a major addition to the existing five-story, 70-foot finishing building. Electrical work included the installation of a new electrical substation with transformers, switch gear and bus duct; underground conduit duct banks; electrical cable tray and conduit systems; grounding systems; medium-voltage and 600-volt motor feeders; area lighting; a page/party system and an HVAC package system.

Instrumentation work included installation of a new I/O building to house a new Distributed Control System, connections to the existing DCS system with a fiber optic link, field instruments, field junction boxes, home run cabling and cabling and conduit to the field devices, instrument air piping, process tubing, loop check and start up assistance. Also included in the instrument scope of work was installation and check out of numerous complex specialty systems. These included two Werner and Pfleiderer Extruder Trains, a Bently Nevada monitoring system, a Forney DCS system, Henschel mixer systems, pellet dryer systems, KTRON weigh scales and Matcom dump systems.

The largest portion of the project was the polymerization unit. The grass-roots portion included the installation of a new electrical substation, a 13.8KV distribution system utilizing conventional pole-line construction, underground duct banks, electrical cable tray and conduit systems, bus duct, grounding systems, medium-voltage and 600-volt motor feeders, area lighting, a page/party system, an emergency evacuation system and electrical heat tracing.

The instrumentation work included installation of a new remote instrument enclosure housing a new distributed control system, connections to the existing DCS with a fiber optic link, field instruments, field junction boxes, home run cabling and cabling and conduit to the field devices, instrument air piping, installation of the analyzer building and its associated tubing, loop check and start up assistance.

ISC also assisted in the installation and check out of the following unique systems: the deluge system, the Tormont refrigeration skid and the Sulzer compressor skid. Along with the electrical and instrumentation work, ISC was responsible for process tubing and steam trace systems that included tubing raceway, pre-insulated supply and condensate tubing, and all line and vessel tracing.

The final activity involved the addition to the existing rail car loading facility. This work included substantial modifications to the existing infrastructure in the load-out area. The electrical work consisted of medium-voltage and 600-volt motor feeder installations, cable tray and conduit systems, area lighting, grounding systems and a page/party system. Instrumentation work consisted of home run cabling to existing field junction boxes, field instruments, cabling and conduit to the field devices, instrument air piping, process tubing, loop check and start up assistance.

Overall BAPP Line Eight Project electrical and instrument work included more than 980,000 feet of wire and cable installed in over 4,000 feet of cable tray and 255,000 feet of conduit. There were 780 light fixtures along with 21 lighting panels and transformers installed on the project. ISC also installed over 16,000 feet of piping for instrument air supply, 23,000 feet of process tubing, 4,000 feet of analyzer tubing and 21,000 feet of steam-trace tubing. ISC also received, calibrated and installed over 2,200 field instruments. More than 1,700 control loops were checked out and turned over to the project start up team.

As an integral part of the project construction team, ISC was involved in the decision-making process for all major disciplines, not just issues pertaining to electrical and instrumentation. The goal of the project team was the success of the total project, and this team concept played a key role in successful completion of the project on time, under budget, with a quality installation and a safety record that set a new standard for construction at Exxon's Baytown facility.