Plant Profile

 

Omega Chemicals, Inc. was incorporated on October 15, 1973 in South Carolina.

Management

Dr. Constantin A. Ghionis Chairman
Doris L. Ghionis
Administration		 President
Anastase C. Ghionis
Chem. Eng.		 Executive Vice President

Production Plant

Omega Chemicals, Inc.'s production facilities are located on a sixteen (16) acre site on US Highway 29 in Cowpens, SC. The plant and the warehouse are two identical but separate 28' ceiling pre-stressed concrete buildings with explosion proof electrical wiring. The laboratory and the boilers are housed in a separate 12' ceiling concrete block building.

Production Equipment and Storage

BOILERS

A forty (40) horsepower steam boiler produces steam at one hundred and fifty (150) pounds of pressure for use in the production facility.

A two hundred (200) horsepower steam boiler produces steam at two hundred and fifty (250) pounds of pressure for use in the production facility.

A three million (3,000,000) btu's per hour liquid phase hot oil heater delivers hot oil at six hundred and fifty (650) degrees Fahrenheit to reactors in the production facility.

REACTORS

Omega's seven hundred and fifty (750) gallon reactor is constructed of 316 stainless steel and rated for atmospheric pressure at 450°F with two sets of concentric internal coils for steam heating and cooling tower water cooling. The vessel has a five (5) horsepower two speed agitator with a single axial flow mixing blade.

Omega's twelve hundred (1200) gallon reactor is constructed of 316 stainless steel. It is rated for atmospheric pressure at 450°F with two sets of concentric internal coils for steam heating and cooling tower water cooling. The vessel has a ten (10) horsepower three speed agitator with a single axial flow mixing blade.

Omega's three (3) three thousand (3000) gallon reactors are constructed of 316 stainless steel rated for one hundred to one hundred and forty pounds of pressure (100 psig to 140 psig) at 650°F with twenty (20) horsepower, two speed, dual blade agitators. The reactors are heated with heat transfer fluid through four (4) zones of half-pipe coil jacketing. The vessels also have two (2) sets of concentric internal coils which are divided into two (2) vertical zones which are heated with steam and cooled with cooling tower water. The three reactors have a six (6) foot vertical overhead vapor line with vertical condenser and 300 gallon vacuum receiver for stripping unreacted raw materials or reaction by-products. One (1) of the reactors has a packed distillation column (20 HETP) connected with its vertical overhead condenser, reflux splitter, and two (2) 300 gallon vacuum receivers. All three (3) reactors are connected to individual liquid ring, four (4) inches Hg absolute pressure, vacuum pumps and a steam jet/liquid ring, 2mm Hg absolute pressure vacuum pump system. The reactors are mounted on load cells and can be charged using super-sacks.

VACUUM

Steam jet/liquid vacuum pump system capable of producing two (2) millimeters of mercury absolute pressure.

Liquid ring vacuum pumps capable of producing approximately 4.0 inches of mercury absolute pressure.

BULK STORAGE

Omega Chemicals has two fully diked outside tank farms along with additional inside bulk storage. There are a total of twenty-four (24) bulk storage tanks ranging in size from twenty-five hundred (2500) gallons to eighteen thousand (12,000) gallons.

TANK TRUCK LOADING/UNLOADING

Adjacent to the tank farms and production building is a fully contained and covered tank truck loading and unloading station. The containment area has the capacity to hold twelve thousand (12,000) gallons of material and is connected to a 35,000 gallon concrete holding basin.

LABORATORY

Omega's laboratory performs all quantitative analytical analyses required for quality control on all in-process product batches during production. The lab also performs all quality assurance analyses to ensure that only first quality product leaves the plant.

The lab also has glass and 316 stainless steel organic synthesis equipment for the development of new products to meet the customers needs.

WASTE TREATMENT

Omega Chemicals operates an eighty thousand (80,000) gallon wastewater treatment plant with pre-neutralization, aeration and chemical addition tank. It is aerated with air and mechanical stirrers. The above ground treatment basin is diked with a thirty-five thousand (35,000) gallon containment basin. The wastewater from the plant is then discharged to the Spartanburg County sewer system for additional treatment.