Technical Engineer, Furnaces

Furnace Engineer

Interested in joining a winning team? A team whose employees are empowered to make a difference?

Organizational Context and Job Purpose

The Olefins & Polymers USA division of INEOS is one of the largest producers of olefins and polyolefins in North America. From its manufacturing locations at Chocolate Bayou and the Battleground Manufacturing Complex, it is a merchant marketer of butadiene, ethylene, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene with annual revenue of over $4B.

The Chocolate Bayou Site is located in Southeastern Texas about 40 miles South of Houston and consists of two Olefins units that produce approximately 4bn pounds/year of ethylene, 2 Polypropylene units that produce approximately 1B pounds/ year of polypropylene, and the Light Ends storage & transfer facilities at Stratton Ridge.

The Furnace Engineer is the site subject matter expert for ethylene cracking furnace technology and provides technical leadership for safe, reliable, environmentally compliant, and economically optimized operation of CBW's Olefins furnaces. The Furnace Engineer is a critical technical leadership role for CBW. The position protects the integrity of high-value furnace assets, improves olefins profitability through better conversion and energy performance, reduces process safety and reliability risk, and provides the technical foundation for long-term furnace replacement, revamp, and modernization decisions.

The Furnace Engineer develops and sustains CBW's long-term furnace strategy, maintains furnace technical standards, optimizes furnace performance, supports capital projects, and helps protect the mechanical integrity of fired equipment. The role directly supports CBW objectives for process safety excellence, operational reliability, ethylene production optimization, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and long-term asset stewardship.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

The position is accountable for understanding and putting into practice the INEOS 20 Principles.

Furnace Technology Ownership

· Serve as CBW technical authority for ethylene cracking furnace technologies

· Maintain furnace design basis documentation, technical standards, operating guidelines, and engineering best practices.

· Evaluate emerging furnace technologies and support long-term technology screening, feasibility studies, and strategic planning.

· Interface with licensors, OEMs, EPC contractors, inspection specialists, and industry networks to preserve and advance CBW furnace knowledge.

Furnace Performance Optimization

· Drive improvements in ethylene yield, conversion, selectivity, utilization, feed flexibility, and furnace capacity.

· Reduce variable cost through improved severity discipline, fuel efficiency, steam usage, decoke timing, and operating strategy.

· Develop and maintain performance indicators for COT, coil pressure drop, run length, decoke frequency, choke rates, conversion, selectivity, energy efficiency, CO2 intensity, and furnace availability.

· Support furnace models, performance dashboards, benchmarking, and optimization studies.

Asset Integrity & Reliability

· Provide technical support for tube life management

· Lead or support investigations involving tube failures, coke formation, burner issues, refractory deterioration, TLE failures, flame instability, process upsets, and reliability losses.

· Develop long-range furnace replacement, revamp, and upgrade strategies based on risk, production impact, mechanical condition, and business value.

Process Safety Leadership

· Provide furnace technical support for PHA, HAZOP, LOPA, MOC, risk ranking, and incident investigation processes.

· Maintain furnace operating envelope limits

· Support corrective action development and closure for furnace-related process safety findings.

· Serve as technical lead for initiatives involving furnace safeguards, per missives, trips, flame safety, decoke safety, and safe operating limits.

Operations & Production Engineering Support

· Provide technical troubleshooting support for startups, shutdowns, unit upsets, furnace trips, feed changes, decokes, emergency events, and capacity constraints.

· Provide recommendations for…