What Is the Morrow Energy Pilot Plant?

The Morrow Pilot Plant is a skid-mounted gas distillation system designed to teach students how real industrial equipment operates in the field. In practice, the system represents a natural gas dehydration unit, where water is removed from gas using propylene glycol in a distillation process.

For safety and control, the plant does not use actual natural gas. Instead, students operate the system using steam to simulate natural gas behavior, allowing them to learn startup, operation, troubleshooting, and safety concepts without exposure to flammable gas or explosion hazards.

This educational facility features:

• A trayed distillation column
• A packed distillation column
• Kettle reboiler
• Shell-and-tube heat exchanger
• Plate-and-frame heat exchanger

Everything is built for one purpose: to give students industrial experience in a safe, controlled, teaching-focused environment.

What Students Learn

• Startup and shutdown of industrial equipment
• Manual and automated plant operations
• Interpreting P&IDs
• Hands-on repair and troubleshooting
• Safety procedures and field protocols
• Process simulations and scenario-based training