Chemex Global receives award for work on Hugoton renewable diesel project

Chemex Global Inc. was honored Oct. 28 by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston with an Excellence in Construction Award for its work on Seaboard Energy’s 85-million-gallon-per-year renewable diesel project in Hugoton, Kansas.

Seaboard Energy first announced the project was underway in April at the former Abengoa ethanol plant site the company purchased in February 2019. The project consists of a greenfield fat and oil pretreatment unit, hydrogen plant, and renewable diesel refinery.

In May, Haldor Topsoe revealed the project is employing its HydroFlex™ process technology for hydrotreating tallow and soybean oil into renewable diesel, and its H2bridge™ technology for hydrogen production.

By July, Chemex Global announced shipment of all modules and equipment for the Haldor Topsoe HydroFlex™ renewable diesel unit, which, according to Chemex, is the first modularized HydroFlex™ plant in the world. Chemex Global “performed all on- and off-module engineering for the renewable diesel area of the facility, including procuring the basic engineering package from Haldor Topsoe, completing the process and detailed design, procurement, fabrication, and startup of the unit, as well as wrapping Haldor Topsoe’s process guarantees with its own,” the firm stated. All on-module piping and structure, assembly, painting, insulating, heat tracing, electrical work, panels, junction boxes, and PLC wiring and programming was performed in-house at Chemex Global’s fabrication facility in New Waverly, Texas.

Chemex Global was among dozens of other Houston-area firms honored for project excellence at the annual ceremony established in 2000.

Seaboard Energy’s Hugoton plant is expected to be operational by end of year.