Project Overview
P&E Company recently completed work on a plant conversion project in Hugoton, Kansas for Seaboard Energy. Fagen Construction brought P&E Company on as a key subcontractor to complete the challenging ethanol-to-renewable-diesel conversion. Based on P&E Company’s performance on the original $4.5 million contract, P&E Company was awarded an additional $2.5 million contract for the construction of a new renewable diesel unit (RDU), bringing the entire project budget to $7 million.
Mechanical and piping work for a renewable diesel plant conversion
P&E Company completed the RDU, which turns fat and other animal byproducts into biodiesel, in addition to the original project scope. That initial assignment included installing mostly prefabricated piping in the existing racks for the site’s storage tank farm, with some fabrication done in the field. The P&E team, led by Project Manager Kirk Epperson, installed carbon and stainless steel piping in the systems for air, boiler steam and water, chemical, cooling water supply and return, mixed tallow, nitrogen, domestic and potable water, raw fat, raw water, treated water, waste water, natural gas, finished fuel, and tank trimming. P&E Company installed carbon above-ground piping and HDPE and carbon steel underground piping, ranging from ½-inch to 14 inches. The team completed 5,121 total welds for the conversion project with a weld rejection rate of only 0.04 percent. P&E Company helped Seaboard transform an unused ethanol plant into a fully functioning plant producing renewable diesel fuel.