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  4. Designing the Power of North America’s Largest Petrochemical Complex

Designing the Power of North America’s Largest Petrochemical Complex

Steam, water, liquid propane, natural gas, compressed air and power — all carefully engineered to keep North America’s only single-site propane-to-plastic facilities running smoothly. 

Location

  • Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada

Project Status

  • Complete

Inter Pipeline’s $4B Heartland Petrochemical Complex converts locally sourced propane into 525 kilotons of plastic per year, which turns into everything from packaging films and bottle caps to bicycle helmets and diapers. To keep this plant running around the clock, our team designed the Central Utilities Block (CUB) to supply a full suite of critical utilities: steam, water, liquid propane, natural gas, compressed air and power.

This 108-MW greenfield gas-fired cogeneration facility was purpose-built to meet the needs of the Heartland Complex, the only single-site propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) plant in North America.

 

Fuel flexibility and safety

The facility is designed to operate on natural gas and/or blends of ethane-rich or hydrogen-rich fuels. Our scope included extensive process safety analysis and active participation in HAZOP reviews across all systems. We developed a highly modularized design with modules fabricated off-site, significantly shortening the construction schedule.

Kilotons polypropylene produced per year
525
Megawatt cogeneration facility
108

Engineering specs

Our engineering design for the CUB included two Siemens SGT-800 natural gas-fired turbine generators. A modular rack system formed the backbone of the CUB, enabling efficient integration of utilities within a constrained footprint. The design also incorporated a water treatment plant capable of producing demineralized water to support process needs.

To ensure operational resilience, an emergency power system was included, providing backup power to PDH and PP loads and full black start capability for the CUB and turbine systems. This high-reliability infrastructure ensures the Heartland Complex is fully supported with the essential utilities required for continuous and dependable operation.

 

Must have steam

Steam is essential to PDH operations. The auxiliary boilers are sized to match HRSG output, providing backup steam during startup and enhancing reliability for balance-of-plant equipment.

This 108-MW greenfield gas-fired cogeneration facility was purpose-built to meet the needs of the Heartland Complex, the only single-site PDH and PP plant in North America.

Other challenges that we have overcome