CHEMICAL PROCESSING INDUSTRY - Veolia

1 shintech , , LA BackgroundShintech, Inc., the largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the United States, desired to become more vertically integrated in its production operations in addition to expanding its capacity to meet growing demand in the North American market. This vertical integration included the production of the PVC precursor vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) from a dedicated in-plant chlor-alkali Process EquipmentIn order to achieve the desired production goals, major CHEMICAL PROCESSING equipment was necessary to generate the large quantitiesof high-quality sodium chloride as raw material needed to support the chlor-alkali plant operations. Other process needs for the plant included concentration equipment of the by-product caustic soda.

2 Due to the scale of the facility and the highly complex effort in overall plant design and construction, shintech required a reliable partner to provide these vital was selected to provide the salt purification plant and caustic soda evaporation system for shintech s new Plaquemine facility. This was due to HPD s commercially demonstrated experience in this INDUSTRY with the ability to manage and execute large-scale, turnkey construction ClientShintech Inc. is the largest producer of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin in the United , Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shin-Etsu CHEMICAL Co., Ltd. of Japan, a diversified production company and the world s largest producer of PVC products. CHEMICAL PROCESSING INDUSTRYP r o j e c t P r o f i l eThe salt purification plant and caustic soda evaporation system at shintech s highly integrated Plaquemine, Louisiana facilityCHEMICAL PROCESSING INDUSTRYP r o j e c t P r o f i l eProcess Equipment DescriptionProduction goals at the new Plaquemine manufacturing plant were ambitious.

3 The equipment HPD was contracted to design, supply, and install were critical to the success of the plant in reaching these salt purification system, essentially the heart of the plant, consisted of a single-stage salt crystallizer fed from an upstream reactive brine pre-treatment process. Driven by mechanical vapor recompression (MVR), the system is designed with a nameplate capacity of 820,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) of high-quality sodium chloride that is utilized in the chlor-alkali plant. When completed, this system would be the largest, single-stage evaporated salt system in the companion project awarded to HPD involved a by-product of the chlor-alkali plant. An evaporator system was needed to concentrate the merchant membrane cell caustic from 32 wt% to 50 wt%.

4 This system would produce 1,520 metric tons per day (mtpd) of sodium hydroxideon a dry concentration system was designed as a steam-driven, triple-effect, falling film evaporation train and is configured to maximize steam economy. The challenge for HPD was to design the system with a minimum turndown of 15% of design capacity required by Project ScopeHPD was initially awarded the salt plant as a design-build project due to their extensive experience in design, management, and building the largest evaporated salt plants in the world. Recognizing HPD s ability to execute complex projects, the caustic concentration system project was also awarded on a design-build basis. This full-system supply and installation allowed shintech to focus on other aspects of the scope of both projects also included:> Civil works including foundations and pilings> Structural steel> Mechanical piping, valving, and insulation> Electrical, controls, and instrumentation> Startup, commissioning, and operator training supportThe ResultsDue to successful execution of the projects and performance of the salt purification and caustic concentration systems, shintech again selected HPD for further expansion of the Plaquemine nearly identical plant will be constructed adjacent to the original site.

5 HPD will again supply the salt plant and caustic soda evaporation system on a fully installed execution of the Shintechsalt and caustic soda systems by HPDUSA23563 W. Main Street, IL Route 126 Plainfield, IL 60544 Tel.: +1 815-609-2000 Fax: +1 815-609-2044 SPAINA venida de Neguri, 9 1 48992 GetxoTel.: +34 94 491 40 92 Fax: +34 94 491 I-4-11