Employees from LyondellBasell and San Jacinto College, along with a small group of elected officials and community partners, gathered on Friday, March 5, for a ribbon-cutting for the new LyondellBasell Glass Distillation Lab at San Jacinto College.
The lab, located in the LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy, & Technology (CPET) at San Jacinto College, is a scaled model distillation plant which shows the chemical and physical processes that take place within a chemical plant. It is designed to be a hands-on training tool for the next generation of operators, teaching process technology and instrumentation. San Jacinto College students will have a unique perspective on how a distillation unit operates since the glass structure of the unit allows them to peek inside and see how it works.
“The LyondellBasell Glass Distillation Lab is an innovative educational tool which gives our future workforce hands-on experience before they step foot on a manufacturing site," said Michael VanDerSnick, Senior Vice President of Americas Manufacturing for LyondellBasell. “LyondellBasell is proud to provide San Jacinto College students with a one-of-a-kind experience with its custom-built Glass Distillation Lab. It is the most realistic training experience you can have without actually being in a plant. Helping the next generation understand what options exist in the petrochemical industry is important – and the required skillsets continue to morph as technology advances.”
The LyondellBasell Glass Distillation Lab is one of 35 labs at CPET, which opened for classes in Fall 2019. The Center is the largest training facility in the Gulf Coast Region built for and designed by industry. It also includes an 8,000-square-foot glycol distillation unit, 20 interactive classrooms, and conference, training, and assembly spaces designed to accommodate academic, community, and industrial functions. The LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy, & Technology was funded in part through a $425 million bond referendum in 2015 and through numerous monetary and in-kind donations from industry partners.
“When we began the process of planning this building several years ago, it was important to have our industry partners at the table from the beginning,” said San Jacinto College Chancellor Dr. Brenda Hellyer. “We are fortunate to have LyondellBasell as one of our many partners, and today we are here to celebrate them and the opening of the Glass Distillation Lab. This lab is going to benefit the next generation of process technology workers by providing them with a real-life, hands-on experience, just as they will use when they enter the workforce. We are thankful and grateful to LyondellBasell for its commitment to our students and our training programs at San Jacinto College.”
About LyondellBasell
LyondellBasell is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road, and ensuring the safe and effective functionality in electronics and appliances. LyondellBasell sells products into more than 100 countries and is the world's largest producer of polymer compounds and the largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2021, LyondellBasell was named for the fourth consecutive year to Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies." More information about LyondellBasell can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com.
About San Jacinto College
Surrounded by monuments of history, evolving industries, maritime enterprises of today, and the space age of tomorrow, San Jacinto College has served the people of East Harris County, Texas, since 1961. San Jacinto College is among the top 10 community colleges in the nation as designated by the Aspen Institute for Community College Excellence, and was named an Achieving the Dream Leader College of Distinction in 2020. The College serves approximately 45,000 credit and non-credit students annually, and offers more than 200 degrees and certificates across eight major areas of study that put students on a path to transfer to four-year institutions or enter the workforce. San Jacinto College’s impact on the region totals $1.3 billion in added income, which supports 13,044 jobs. The College is fiscally sound, holding bond ratings of AA and Aa2 by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. For more information about San Jacinto College call 281-998-6150, visit sanjac.edu.
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