Siemens To Design And Supply Complete Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade For Calcasieu Refining

Warrendale, PA - Calcasieu Refining recently selected Siemens (formerly USFilter) to design and supply a complete wastewater treatment plant upgrade for its refinery in Lake Charles, La.

The new plant will include oil/water separation, aeration, clarification, sludge handling and VOC control equipment, allowing Calcasieu Refining to treat increased wastewater flow from the current level of 124 gpm to 300 gpm. The increase in wastewater flow is associated with a major process expansion at the refinery, which will increase crude oil processing capacity from 31,000 bbl/day to 86,000 bbl/day.

Siemens has provided a number of upgrades to the wastewater treatment facility since 1980. The most recent expansion at the refinery was in 2001, which increased refining capacity from 22,000 bbl/day to 31,000 bbl/day.

"Because we have many construction projects going on simultaneously at the site, we wanted a wastewater treatment company with significant experience in the petroleum industry that could provide all the major equipment, coordinate the design of the system and provide a complete mechanical and process guarantee," says Toni Bennett, technical/safety/environmental superintendent at Calcasieu Refining.

"We based our decision to work with Siemens again on the excellent experience we had working with them on our last wastewater treatment expansion and their continued support of that system."

The single-source vendor approach proved to be mutually beneficial to both Calcasieu Refining and Siemens.

"Being involved in the last wastewater treatment expansion at Calcasieu Refining gave Siemens the background it needed to make recommendations that efficiently integrated the new treatment equipment into the existing system, while minimizing cost impacts," says Tom Schultz, HPI/CPI market manager for Siemens.

"By allowing Siemens to coordinate the entire process design of the system, Calcasieu Refining could focus on the process expansion at the refinery and still be assured single-source responsibility for the wastewater treatment upgrade."

Siemens was able to reuse some of the existing wastewater treatment equipment and tanks on site, reducing the cost of the new wastewater treatment system and significantly reducing the area needed for the new system. In addition to the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant, Siemens provides ongoing inspection services to the refinery on a periodic basis, to evaluate the mechanical and process operation of the wastewater treatment system. The visits ensure optimum process performance of the wastewater treatment system while minimizing O&M costs.

SOURCE: Siemens Energy, Inc. - Water Solutions