{"id":1282,"date":"2022-09-09T17:54:08","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/?post_type=service&#038;p=1282"},"modified":"2022-09-09T17:54:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:54:08","slug":"the-thin-green-line","status":"publish","type":"service","link":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/service\/the-thin-green-line\/","title":{"rendered":"THE THIN GREEN LINE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]\t\t\t<!-- Flexy Breadcrumb -->\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"fbc fbc-page\">\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t<!-- Breadcrumb wrapper -->\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"fbc-wrap\">\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Ordered list-->\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<ol class=\"fbc-items\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BreadcrumbList\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t            <li itemprop=\"itemListElement\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ListItem\">\r\n                <span itemprop=\"name\">\r\n                    <!-- Home Link -->\r\n                    <a 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mega-menu-item-object-custom mega-menu-item-985\" id=\"mega-menu-item-985\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/service\/procurement\/\">Procurement<\/a><\/li><li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-custom mega-menu-item-object-custom mega-menu-item-has-children mega-align-bottom-left mega-menu-flyout mega-menu-item-984\" id=\"mega-menu-item-984\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/service\/project-management\/\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"mega-sub-menu-984\">Project Management<span class=\"mega-indicator\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/a>\n<ul class=\"mega-sub-menu\" id='mega-sub-menu-984'>\n<li class=\"mega-menu-item mega-menu-item-type-custom mega-menu-item-object-custom mega-menu-item-1114\" id=\"mega-menu-item-1114\"><a class=\"mega-menu-link\" href=\"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/service\/accelerated-project-sequence\/\">Accelerated Project Sequence<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul><\/div>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column offset=&#8221;vc_col-md-8&#8243;][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image source=&#8221;featured_image&#8221; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h1>POLARIS EPC \u2013 THE THIN GREEN LINE<\/h1>\n<h2>Polaris EPC is a business taking on a unique challenge, bringing down the carbon emissions of crude oil refineries.<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessfocusmagazine.com\/2022\/05\/25\/polaris-epc-the-thin-green-line\/\">As Seen in Business Focus Magazine.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For over 26 years Polaris Engineering, Procurement and Construction has been operating in the industrial hub of Southwest Louisiana. This full-service engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company serves the refining and petrochemical industries in the US and around the world, but it started out offering a simple process engineering consulting service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy business partner, Mike Nodier and I started the business 26 years ago in Lake Charles in Louisiana,\u201d recalls co-founder Gerry Obluda. \u201cOver the years we\u2019ve grown to become a full-service firm capable of full EPC work to the extent that we can build entire facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polaris has been able to succeed in this journey helping its clients find innovative and cost-effective process solutions to their operating and debottlenecking challenges. The expertise the company holds in this arena is a source of pride for the company even today when its scope has expanded far beyond its original offering.<\/p>\n<p>Polaris has built on its initial successes, adding engineering and design disciplines to its portfolio to enable the company to provide full project development and project management capabilities to its clients.  Today Polaris has successfully implemented projects from conception through start-up, providing cost-effective Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Services using a business model that focuses on small to medium projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take projects from concept to completion,\u201d Obluda tells us. \u201cWe\u2019re not a gigantic company, we\u2019re relatively small and nimble, but we think of our competition as the giant turnkey project providers. Our clientele is not Exxon or Shell, they are more entrepreneurial firms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>A Refined Solution<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Right now, Polaris EPC is taking that expertise and directing it towards the most pressing issue facing perhaps the entire petrochemical sector right now. The refining industry is the third-largest emitter of CO2 in the world. So far, little has been done within the refining sector to reduce its carbon footprint substantially. As Obluda points out, all the measures deployed by the refining industry so far have been to reduce its carbon footprint by adding on renewable diesel production solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNobody is talking about reducing actual emissions from oil refining,\u201d Obluda says. \u201cThe refining of fossil fuels is going to go on for a long time, so our idea is to do refining better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In seeking to address this challenge, Obluda points to an odd quirk of the US oil industry as it stands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn amazing thing in the US is we\u2019re producing all this light, sweet, crude all of a sudden, and light sweet crude can more easily be converted to finished transportation fuels,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut all our existing refining base, which has been built up over more than 60 years, is set up to run primarily heavy sour crude. Upgrading heavy sour crude uses a large amount of energy and makes a ton of emissions but that\u2019s how they\u2019re set up. So, we export all this light sweet crude and import heavy sour crude to fill up our refineries. It\u2019s kind of crazy when you think about it. We load up tankers of Saudi Arabian crude and bring them here to refine while exporting ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To Obluda the solution seems straightforward. Refine all that light, sweet crude near the point of production, applying new technologies to the refinery that can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the refining process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll this light sweet crude is being produced in West Texas, and rather than shipping it out to the coast and across the ocean, we want to refine it right there where we produce it, refine it very cleanly, and sell the clean finished products locally,\u201d Obluda says.<\/p>\n<p>If this seems like a dramatic change, it is at the very least not unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s come full circle,\u201d Obluda points out. \u201cIf you look back to the very beginning of refining, 120 years ago, they built little refineries close to where they produced crude to supply local markets. You didn\u2019t have the current situation where crude is moved all over the world to refine and make products. But those refineries went the way of the dinosaur when they started building these mega plants. Now we\u2019re once again seeing how it\u2019s going to be better to build new plants closer to where crude is produced and thus be able to apply the latest emissions control technologies. Why export crude and import refined products to these areas?  We think there\u2019s room and space and interest in making refining better and quicker.  And we have recently received a US Patent for our design to achieve these results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Between a Rock and a Hard Place<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Polaris is presenting a solid, practical solution, but it is one that Obluda believes will receive pushback from multiple directions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the existing industry is not going to be very interested in what we\u2019re doing because everyone\u2019s kind of accepted you can\u2019t change refining. We\u2019re trying to change that mindset,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cExisting refineries won\u2019t like it when they see people saying refining can be done cleaner and better. The existing industry won\u2019t be very receptive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, environmentalists pushing for a complete shift to renewable energy can often overlook short-term but practical solutions to mitigate the environmental cost of the existing petrochemical industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything at all to do with fossil fuels is looked at negatively these days. We focus on it being clean, our idea is that fossil fuels aren\u2019t going away overnight, so while we\u2019re using them let\u2019s do it more cleanly,\u201d Obluda argues. \u201cWe\u2019re making the case based on the beauty of how much we can reduce emissions. A lot of the other green projects don\u2019t necessarily have economic payouts. Most straight-up carbon reduction projects rely on ESG pressures and very limited tax breaks for government subsidies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Polaris EPC\u2019s project, while being green and reducing emissions by 95% is also built on a foundation of good base economics, leveraging its location advantages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe plan to put these in the right locations, where the crude\u2019s being produced and there\u2019s local market demand,\u201d Obluda explains. \u201cEven without its environmental features, our projects can be an attractive investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is a plan Obluda wants to roll out as far as possible, and the early steps have been promising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d like to get multiples of these projects under construction. We have two so far that have been permitted for construction and operation in West Texas. Their owners are in the process of advancing those projects to further development,\u201d Obluda reports. \u201cWe\u2019d like to do more of them, we can see ourselves exporting this idea around the world. There\u2019s a lot of room to put these in regions where crude is produced but finished products are imported.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column offset=&#8221;vc_col-md-8&#8243;][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image source=&#8221;featured_image&#8221; img_size=&#8221;large&#8221;][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text] POLARIS EPC \u2013 THE THIN GREEN LINE Polaris EPC is a business taking on a unique challenge, bringing down the carbon emissions of crude oil refineries. As Seen in Business Focus Magazine. For over 26 years Polaris Engineering, Procurement and Construction has been operating in the industrial hub of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1283,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-1282","service","type-service","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","service_tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/service\/1282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/service"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/service"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/polarisepc.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}