New Entrant Heartland Polymers Stepping up as Reliable Supplier

In a unique geographical region of Alberta, Canada, operational readiness teams were busy over the summer optimizing production processes at North America’s first integrated PDH/PP facility. Heartland Polymers represents the industry’s newest supply entrant, and the company is keenly focused on delivering on its promise to be a reliable and helpful partner for manufacturers, converters, and distributors seeking stability against volatile markets.

“We’re producing and delivering to customers, and the reaction so far has been very welcoming to say the least,” says Yonas Kebede, Director of Sales and Marketing, adding that approximately 70 percent of output has been contracted, with active interest on limited availability supply. “The build of the integrated facility was a momentous achievement in itself, completed safely during a global pandemic, but today we are really focused on demonstrating our commitment to better reliability, a better way of doing business as we step into the market as a new brand.”

Heartland Polymers is currently producing homopolymers and is ready to add random copolymers to its production line in 2023. The PDH will produce 525 KTA propylene and the PP will produce 525 KTA polypropylene.

A Business Model Designed by You, for You

Kebede says Heartland’s parent, Inter Pipeline, invested in early research and consultation to hear directly from the industry on key opportunities and challenges, and these insights helped directly inform the new entrant’s business model and service approach. The research showed strong interest for a new entrant outside of the Gulf Coast region, further validated by the events of 2020 and 2021 with Hurricane Laura and Winter Storm Uri, and the ensuing supply disruptions. A 30-year veteran of the industry, Kebede has seen firsthand the chaos that ensues on the heels of a major weather event – and how those disruptions negatively impact the supply chain.

 “There is a reliability issue in the marketplace for current suppliers down the Gulf Coast due to hurricanes, and the ability to come to customers with product outside of the Gulf in a more stable environment is really exciting,” he says.
 

The Right Place at the Right Time

Location, location, location, goes the saying in real estate, but the same holds true for manufacturing. Located northeast of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Heartland’s production facility is designed to convert locally sourced, low-cost propane into high quality polypropylene. In fact, the region is home to one of the world’s most abundant propane resources. In addition to access to a highly trained workforce and technical expertise, production facilities in this region are accustomed to seasonal fluctuations in temperature. They are built to operate through cold winters and hot summers but are not susceptible to major climate events such as hurricanes that cause downtime.

When it comes to reliably moving products, the Heartland manufacturing complex is serviced by the industry’s newest fleet of 1,600 railcars, all outfitted with the latest GPS technology to allow customers to track their shipments in real-time. Cars will be cleaned and loaded 24/7 on-site in compliance with Operation Clean Sweep as one part of the company’s holistic approach to sustainability. The Heartland rail network provides access to ports, terminals, and centrally located storage-in-transit capacity to assist with on-demand delivery.

Building a transportation network from the ground up was “the opportunity of a lifetime”, says Mark Ritchie, Manager of Transportation and Logistics. He credits his team with bringing highly specialized experience across contract management, customs, procurement, site management, strategy development, and market analysis, as well as fleet and maintenance.

“We had the rare opportunity with a new build to take the best of everything and integrate it into our operations from the very start: the best technology, the best systems, the best practices and procedures that we’ve learned from this and many other industries,” Ritchie explains. “Our mantra was to operate then optimize. First, we wanted to establish an infrastructure that would allow us to operate and execute on our two primary goals of maintaining production and moving products to market. Once we're operating and we have an understanding, the next phase will be to look back at the decisions that we made and then decide where we can improve.”
 

Enhanced Reliability in Production          

When it comes to secured access to abundant local feedstock and processing infrastructure, Heartland is leveraging an extensive extraction and processing network through its parent company Inter Pipeline. While most polypropylene producers buy their monomer from a third-party site that isn’t directly attached, Heartland is fully integrated between the Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) and Polypropylene (PP) facilities. A PGP cavern reservoir ensures that each plant can run independently from the other, improving overall reliability.

“Our ability to utilize salt caverns for keeping feedstocks in between these plants in reserve, a month's worth of supply, provides added security for our customers,” says Kebede. “We expect industry-standard turnaround but are confident that we have many unique differentiators that make us attractive as a new supply source.”
 

Reliably Sustainable

Heartland employs the most modern, sustainable iterations of production technology. The focus when selecting technology was on efficiency, stability, quality, and sustainability. Heartland Polymers is proud to be partnering with W. R. Grace and Honeywell who license the UNIPOL® PP and Oleflex™ PDH (respectively) to implement leading-edge production technologies. This leading-edge technology ensures phthalate-free quality and reliability.

The on-site central utility block (CUB) cogeneration unit plays a key role in delivering increased sustainability. As a result, Heartland will produce polypropylene that is projected to have a GHG emissions footprint 65 percent lower than the global average and 35 percent lower compared to average North American PP facilities, according to an independent third-party review commissioned by Inter Pipeline. The CUB recovers residual heat from the operation of its gas turbines (GTGs) and utilizes it to produce steam for use by the propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) units to support process equipment energy requirements. The residual heat recovery process is used instead of traditional power and emissions-intense fossil fuels, such as coal.

Watch: Heartland Polymers Believes in “Better”

The hydrogen used to fuel the integrated cogeneration unit and process heaters is a by-product of the dehydrogenation process to create the propylene. This further reduces GHG emissions and removes the need for imported grid electricity to fuel the process.

“Using the hydrogen produced in the PDH operations as fuel in the rest of the complex will reduce our carbon footprint by as much as 130,000 tonnes annually,” says Kebede, adding the plant also employs air cooling (A-frame condensers and glycol systems) instead of water cooling, significantly reducing the overall uptake of fresh water per year. “We’ve made very deliberate decisions with respect to processes, and technologies, and will continue to improve.”

Kebede says the sales, service, and technical support teams look forward to connecting with the industry as Heartland steps into the market with its vision for ‘better’. Anyone interested in connecting for a one-on-one consultation or introduction can easily book time on their website or by calling 1-877-595-2320. 

“We don’t just say ‘we believe in better’ as a tagline,” he says. “That philosophy truly informs every aspect of the business and the brand. From our technology partners to the hand-picked team we’ve developed, the aim is to continually learn, collaborate, and seek better solutions. I’m very excited about where we’re headed.”