Towards maximum transparency in documentation

In 2000 the Chevron Corporation and Phillips Petroleum Company, now Phillips 66, joined forces in a joint venture. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC evolved into one of the top producers of ethylene, polyethylene, aromatics, styrene and specialized chemicals such as mercaptans. These products are produced in their European branch in Tessenderlo, in Limburg, Belgium. Together with their headquarters in Overijse, their branch in Beringen and a compounding department in the port of Antwerp, Chevron Phillips Chemicals International N.V. in Tessenderlo manufactures thirty types of mercaptans. The finished products - for global niche markets - are supplied in different production volumes. By continuously improving the production processes, the plant has succeeded in increasing the original production capacity fivefold. The sulphur compound in mercaptans, also known as thiols, emits an extremely strong odour. These are added to natural gas, among other things, to enable the swift detection of leaks. It goes without saying that the production of these compounds can only take place after complying with the strictest safety standards.

Focus on safety, flexibility and standards

Priority 1: Safety Hugo Saenen, Project/E&I Engineer: “For us, humans and the environment are the highest priority. This is why we employ extremely strict safety standards. We produce around thirty types of mercaptans, with runs ranging from six weeks to four or five months. After each run, we need to readjust our systems. This is a complex procedure. We process chemicals that have a purity of more than 99%, and this can only be done using high-tech systems. To ensure the changeovers run smoothly, we need access to the correct information about the current system settings at all times.” Priority 2: Quick changeover times Everything is based on safety. Rapid changeover times are essential for a company that wants to significantly increase its production capacity in the coming years. Hugo Saenen: “The changeover process is fully controlled and automated. Any reduction in changeover times has a direct impact on our production capacity. As a result, there are constantly new revamp projects taking place here. To guarantee the safety of our staff, the production, maintenance and project employees need to know at all times what part of the plant is in a project phase, and which parts are as built.” Priority 3: Strict industry standards Add to this the fact that the industrial safety standards are becoming increasingly stringent. Chevron Phillips also needs to respond to these standards on an ongoing basis. Hugo Saenen: “We are in a chemical environment. This means we must meet the highest standards. Both in terms of electrical inspections, re-inspections and certifications such as ATEX ... One of the key issues here is about transparent ‘as built’ documentation. We‘ve already been using straightforward standardization for the instrumentation part; however, for the electrical part it was still lacking.”

High requirements for documentation

Guaranteeing the safety of employees and the environment, faster changeover times, responding to changing standards: all this requires precise and up- to-date documentation. Hugo Saenen: “We were looking for an application to facilitate the standardization in our electrical engineering documentation. The software needed to be user-friendly, quick to implement, and we needed to be able to easily look up data and search very quickly at a detailed level. We work a lot with revamp and optimization projects, which means you need to be able to retrieve, modify and insert pieces of information in your diagrams. And there needs to be a clear distinction between ‘as built’ and project situations. For this reason we obviously required a database-driven system.” And there were other requirements too. Bart Vanherk at Temco N.V. has been working for years as a Project/E&I Engineer at Chevron Phillips: “Chevron Phillips often calls in engineering firms and systems contractors. It was a must for everyone to use the same platform and work with the same tools. In other words, they were looking for an application with a large market penetration, which is why it didn‘t take long for them to find EPLAN. Because of the many changeovers and revamps, our electrical diagrams are very dynamic. It is therefore important to be able to distinguish between the project information and the ‘as built’ diagrams. EPLAN documentation is very transparent, which is exactly what they needed. Furthermore, they can integrate the application into our asset management. This allows for a continuous synchronization between the diagrams and the materials distribution management.” Chevron Phillips now uses EPLAN to manage all its electrical systems. Bart Vanherk: “With the EPLAN viewer, all this data is immediately available to the engineers in the field. Also, the software meets the latest IT standards - a requirement from our IT department - and it offers maximum support for the workflow between departments, contractors and engineering firms.”

Electrical standard in EPLAN

To promote the exchange of project information among the appropriate external partners, Chevron Phillips has developed an electrical standard in EPLAN. Hugo Saenen: “We wanted the guarantee that there would be a smooth data exchange with all our project stakeholders. To achieve this, we called on the EPLAN consultants: from implementation and start-up to standardization and training of our employees. The result is a fully integrated system that has improved the efficiency of our document management for all revamp projects. They are convinced that EPLAN contributes to the successful achievement of the objectives of our E&I department: to have the correct documentation available for the entire plant at all times. With the main objective: to guarantee optimum safety for all our employees and the environment.” “Using the same number of people, we wanted to maintain the manageability of our exponential grow in documentation. EPLAN helps me to succeed in doing this.” Hugo Saenen, Project/E&I Engineer Chevron Phillips “My challenge? In the short term, to achieve a system that optimally manages the documentation and quickly brings the right information to the right person. EPLAN helps me do this. They made sure the implementation ran smoothly and were cost- aware. Important, especially for an external consultant such as myself, who is judged on efficiency.” Bart Vanherk, Project/E&I Engineer at Temco N.V. Go to www.cpchem.com to find out more about Chevron Phillips.