Milestone Moments: Raw Water Treatment Plant is Up and Running

It was a brisk, wintery Sunday on January 31st in Monaca, PA. To the delight of the production team on-site, the pump roared to life and ran as they started up the water treatment plant for the first time. Years and years of engineering and planning have finally become a reality.

As the construction of our state-of-the-art polyethylene plant continues, the activation of the raw water treatment plant signals significant progress and puts Shell Polymers one step closer to producing high-density polyethylene and linear low-density polyethylene in Beaver County, bringing jobs and engaging the community along this journey.

Joe Lollini, Operations Support Engineer, explains, “This milestone will set off a positive chain reaction, a sequence of events where eventually we’ll get all of the utilities up and running. We’ll get the power generation units up and running, which will produce electricity for the first time. And eventually we’ll start the ethylene cracker unit and the polyethylene units – culminating in Shell Polymers’ very first polyethylene pellet.”

The Shell Polymers plant will repurpose the Ohio River water on-site to generate steam and provide cooling. The steam will be primarily used to drive turbines that either generate electricity or power compressors, while the cooling capabilities will help remove heat from our systems and control the temperature of equipment and processes.

In order to be used in these capacities throughout the new polyethylene plant, the water from the Ohio River must go through multiple treatment processes, including clarification and filtration. It also goes through further demineralization prior to being used as boiler feed water to generate steam. The strategic decision to invest in a raw water treatment plant is instrumental in bringing polyethylene manufacturing to Beaver County.

The start up of the plant marks an inflection point for the project as the Shell Polymers’ team, in earnest, begins starting operations.

“Over the last decade, this project came to life,” Huberto Diaz, CSU Lead, excitedly shared about his experience. “Whether you were wearing this red uniform, or you were wearing a craft uniform in the field, everyone was all marching, walking in the same direction to make this a success.”