Tag: Refinery

Global demand for oil products has seen strong recovery in 2021, but depressed kerosene demand from the aviation sector continues to be a major barrier to full recovery, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. The company’s analysis of oil product flows suggests that when kerosene is excluded, oil product demand in Q3 2021 had fully recovered compared to the same period in 2019. However, demand for kerosene, mostly used for jet fuel, has hovered at around two thirds of pre-Covid-19 levels throughout the year, and when that is taken into account, total oil product demand was 3% below pre-Covid levels for Q3 2021. Kerosene demand saw the greatest impact from Covid-19 due to restrictions on air travel. While the sector recovered, to an extent, in the second half of 2020, recovery stalled in 2021 due to new waves of infections and restrictions, with new restrictions linked to the Omicron variant likely to have hit demand again in Q4.

M. Rameshni and S. Santo of RATE discuss different sour water stripping gas processing options, depending on contaminants in the sour water streams and site-specific requirements.

ASRL has conducted studies on ammonia destruction in the sulphur recovery unit (SRU) for over a decade1-5 . Other studies at ASRL have investigated mechanisms for ammonium salt formation and deposition downstream in the Claus plant, as well as the potential sources of ammonia (NH3 )in a gas plant7 . A less understood subject is addressing how much residual NH3 is tolerable or at what temperature will residual NH3 cause ammonium salt deposition. In this study, existing knowledge on thermal stability of ammonium salts and new measurements have been used to identify the gaseous components required for deposition, through reversible vapour pressure expressions.

The UK has published its Hydrogen Strategy, setting out the government’s ambition to create a low carbon hydrogen sector, with up to one third of the UK’s energy consumption being hydrogen-based by 2050. The commitments set out in the strategy unlocks £4 billion of government investment by 2030. The government plans 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity and the establishment of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) in four industrial clusters by 2030, as well as blending of hydrogen into the existing gas network and a ‘twin-track’ approach to hydrogen production, using both electrolytic and CCUS-enabled low carbon hydrogen production in order to scale up production in time to meet the UK’s 2030 and 2050 carbon emissions targets.

China is the world’s largest importer of sulphur, mainly to feed domestic phosphate production. Sour gas in Sichuan and new refinery production, coupled with rationalisation in the phosphate sector are all leading to reduced imports, while new smelters are increasing sulphuric acid production and reducing the need for pyrite-based and sulphur burning acid production.

Sulphur ’s annual listing of new or recently completed sulphur forming projects worldwide covers both new sour gas and refinery sulphur forming projects as well as upgrades at existing units.

The continuing spread of alkylation technology and the preference for the sulphuric acid route are leading to increased demand for acid in refineries.

Production has begun at Ivanhoe Mines’ Kakula copper mine in the DRC. The company says that total production for this year is expected to be 80-95,000 t/a of copper in concentrate, with a phase two expansion to 400,000 t/a due to be completed by Q2 2022. Ivanhoe is working with China’s Zijin Mining on the development plan for phases 2 and 3 of the mine, as well as a feasibility study for the Kipushi zinc mine further to the east. Both projects lie close to the DRC’s southern border, with Angola and Zambia respectively. Phase 3 of Kamoa will lift capacity to an anticipated 600-800,000 t/a of copper in concentrate, making it the second largest copper mine in the world after Escondida in Chile. Canadian-based Ivanhoe expects to be digging 3.8 million t/a of ore at Kakula with 6% copper content in Phase 1.

With demand for conventional fuels projected to peak and fall over the next decade, some refiners are looking to petrochemical production as a way of diversifying their product slate.

Tecnimont has been awarded a $1.5 billion contract by Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council to carry out rehabilitation works at the Port Harcourt refinery in Rivers State, run by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). The contract covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) activities for a full rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery complex, aimed at restoring the complex to a minimum of 90% of its 210,000 bbl/d nameplate capacity. Tecnimont says that the project will be delivered in phases from 24 and 32 months and the final stage will be completed in 44 months from the award date.