Wyoming - March 2010

For the past 5 weeks (all of March) I have been working in Wyoming on our CFZ^TM project. It is a pretty cool concept, and I am even sure some of you have seen ExxonMobil's little commercial. The plant will capture CO2 and H2S in just one process by liquifying it. We will then be able to either re-inject that into the ground or actually use the CO2 for sales.

That is 5 weeks spent in a hotel. My daily routine involved waking up around 5:15 AM in the morning, leaving around 5:45 AM to get to work by 6:45 AM and working until 5 PM (generally). I would then go back home, eat, work out, watch an episode of Lost (maybe 2 episodes), and then probably sleep. I was able to finish all of season 1 and am working on season 2. The working out hasn't been bad either :) I need to do that since all I do is eat fast food all day long. I thought I was going to come home a little chub.

I also got to go home on all the weekends but one! It was great to see all of my family and some of my friends. It was good timing, because I got to see my sister's new little girl and my niece, Carly! She is such a doll.
Seeing family and friends definitely made the weeks bearable up in Wyoming. It provided something to look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all of the time that I spent at the site; I learned a ton! In fact, I will be back for 3 more weeks. Some other benefits include the fact that after spending over 30 days in a hotel, I am already a silver member of Hilton Honors, and after my next stay I will be gold.

So that is my latest adventure. Below are some more pictures.

Here are some pictures of what it looks like (the tower is over 200 ft. high):



Five weeks in Wyoming have taken their toll. I have worked some 12-hour shifts, worked in the snow and cold (down to single digits).

The drive is horrendous. I stayed in Rock Springs, which was 55 minutes away from the work site. So you drive 2 hours total and then work 10-hour days. And the drive was both in nice weather and snow. I saw the first car fire in my life on the drive to Rock Springs. I am talking the cab was in flames at least ten feet high. I also saw about 5 vehicles that rolled off the freeway when it snowed.

Driving got boring pretty quick. Plus, you had to keep your eye out for things crossing the road.
We are actually working in an existing plant. While we were there, one of the trains (an entire system to separate all of the gases: methane, CO2, H2S, helium, etc.) went down for some reason. As a safety back up to prevent over pressurization or any other bad possibility, all of that gas gets flared off. That was a lot of money literally burning.


For those of you who don't think that I work, here are pictures of me to prove it :)


One of the benefits of the project was going home to Utah. It was only a 2 hr 45 min drive. So I would show up on Friday and stay until Sunday evening.

The Wyoming drive boasted wind turbines:)

While Utah's drive provided some familiar, lovely sights.


And this is the view from the top of the tower:) So barren!