Anne K. Rhodes
Refining/Petrochemical Editor
In the middle of the world's largest gasoline market, and what is considered the most hostile environment toward refiners, Mobil Oil Corp. runs a lean, efficient, 130,000 b/d refinery.
The refinery processes 13-14 API San Joaquin crude oil, converting roughly 85% to gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel. It also makes low-sulfur coke.
Located in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, Calif., the refinery is literally across the street from residential neighborhoods of medium to high-priced houses. Refinery environmental, health, and safety manager W.H. (Bill) Buckalew says this makes his job even tougher.
The reason: In addition to meeting strict local, state, and federal regulations, he has to make sure the refinery's neighbors are satisfied with its operations. To meet this need, the refinery operates a 24-hr hotline that community residents can call to ask questions and voice concerns.
AGENCY INTERACTION
The refinery's environmental department fosters good working relationships with the governing regulatory agencies, says Glenn Sparks, leader of the plant's solid waste/waste water group. These relationships are maintained by, among other things:
- Keeping agency representatives informed of activities
- Meeting deadlines for reports Involving agency representatives early in the planning process
- Following through on commitments
- Dealing with environmental concerns proactively
- Setting up periodic update and progress meetings.
The refinery's environmental department deals with several state and local agencies on a routine basis, including:
- Department of Toxic Substances Control for hazardous waste control issues
- Regional Water Quality Control Board for surface water, groundwater, and hydrocarbon-contaminated soils issues
- Los Angeles County Sanitation District for process waste water issues South Coast Air Quality Management District (Scaqmd) for air pollution issues
- California Air Resources Board (CARB), also for air pollution issues. (Scaqmd is the local enforcing body for CARB.)
Mobil must also climb a paper mountain to meet the regulations, submitting about 350 routine reports to environmental agencies each year. The refinery estimates that it requires 2 man years of work to prepare these routine reports, many of which are specific to California, says Sparks.
The refinery is often visited by inspectors from these agencies. In 1993, almost 200 such inspections were recorded for the first three quarters alone.
DEPARTMENT STRUCTURE
The environmental section of the environmental, health, and safety department comprises two groups of engineers and five environmental foremen who report to department manager Buckalew. Buckalew in turn reports directly to the refinery manager Joel Maness.
The two engineering teams are the solid waste/waste water group and the air quality group.
These teams:
- Track upcoming environmental regulations
- Provide expert compliance guidance to refinery staff
- Perform audits for compliance Review technologies for environmental compliance
- Provide environmental consulting services, as necessary, on refinery projects
- Prepare and submit reports to government agencies
- Participate in professional organizations
- Prepare environmental compliance manuals
- Work closely with representatives of regulatory agencies
- Develop environmental training program for refinery staff.
An environmental foreman is on duty around the clock to deal with daily issues in the refinery. The foremen work closely with operations, maintenance, and construction personnel. In addition, they answer general environmental questions, perform compliance checks, provide compliance guidance, escort agency visitors, and investigate complaints.
At Torrance, the environmental department also is responsible for training other refinery departments in environmental matters.
In fact, many activities traditionally performed by the environmental department, including shift duties performed by the foremen, are being transfer-red to the departments directly
involved.
For example, the operations department runs a groundwater treatment system that discharges water under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (Npdes) permit. A monthly report must be submitted to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Responsibility for filing the report was transferred from the environmental department to the operations department, which operates and maintains the groundwater treatment system.
This has proven to be more efficient and has freed the environmental department to focus on its other
duties.
It also has heightened awareness of environmental matters within the line organization.
AIR POLLUTANTS
Air pollutant concentrations are higher in California's South Coast air basin than in any other area of the U.S. Six ambient air pollutants are of particular concern: sulfur dioxide, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and fine particulate matter (PM10).
EPA considers the basin out of compliance with federal standards for CO, NO2, ozone, and PM10. The basin is in compliance with state and federal standards for lead and SO2, although emissions of SO2 in the area contribute to violations of California sulfate standards.
AIR PERMITS
The refinery has about 200 Scaqmd air permits that encompass all the equipment in the refinery that emit air contaminants. When any piece of equipment is added, removed, moved, or modified, a new permit or permit modification is needed.
Although certain equipment is exempt from permitting (for example, heaters with less than 2 MMBTU/hr capacity), frequent changes in the equipment list make it necessary for almost all equipment to be permitted.
Several years ago, the Torrance refinery began submitting permit applications to Scaqmd on computer disk. The move reduced the time required to process Mobil's applications. In fact, Scaqmd thought the method worked so well that it is now, under its "New Directions Campaign," certifying individual companies to submit permit applications in this format to accelerate the permitting process.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
Scaqmd Rule AB2588 requires companies that emit toxic or hazardous air pollutants to calculate those emissions and report to the public their impact on human health. The Torrance refinery must:
- Estimate emission rates of all substances emitted from more than 100 sources
- Calculate ambient air concentrations of those contaminants using a dispersion model
- Estimate the health effects of contaminants using the state's costly and extremely conservative health risk assessment model
- Communicate the impacts to those affected by the emissions if certain thresholds are exceeded.
Scaqmd Rule 1401 requires the same type of analysis as AB2588, but applies to equipment for which a construction permit is to be requested from Scaqmd. If emissions from the equipment "-ill exceed certain thresholds, public notification is required or a permit will not be -ranted.
Under Scaqmd regulations, the refinery must calculate emissions of certain toxic pollutants and pay fees based on the quantities emitted. Emissions calculations are based on methods approved by EPA or Scaqmd.
The refinery also must report annual emissions to air, water, and land to EPA via the "SARA report" (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986). This report also is used to monitor the refinery's progress toward the goals of EPA's 33/50 program-a voluntary emissions reduction incentive. The plant's recycling activities are included in this report and apply toward its 33/50 goals.
Under 33/50, emissions sources can receive compliance extensions for certain mandatory control technologies by reducing emissions of 17 priority chemicals. To receive the extensions, plants must achieve a 33% reduction in emissions by year-end 1993 and 50% reduction by year-end 1995, compared to 1990 baseline levels.
RECLAIM
On Oct. 15, 1993, Scaqmd adopted the regional clean air incentives market (Reclaim) program. Reclaim is the first program in the U.S. regulating NOx and SOx emissions to create an emissions-trading market based on a required reduction program from 1994 until 2003.
In this program, facilities can plan and reduce their overall emissions according to an annual reduction rate.
Reclaim differs from traditional "command and control" regulations-many of which will be described-that require reductions on specific processes.
Mobil's Torrance refinery is the fourth largest generator of NOx and SOx emissions in California's South Coast basin. Since 1987, the refinery has implemented and retrofitted various NOx and SOx-control technologies to achieve voluntary reductions, as well as reductions required by federal, state, and local regulations.
Under Reclaim, the refinery will be required to reduce NOx emissions further, from 1,912 tons/year to 544 tons/year by 2003-a 72% reduction. Mobil will reduce SOx emissions at the refinery from 723 tons/year to 179 tons/year-a 75% reduction-during the same period.
NOX SOURCES
NOx emissions from furnaces and boilers are regulated locally by Scaqmd Rules 1109 and 1146.
Rule 1109 applies to furnaces and boilers with a maximum heat input greater than 40 MMBTU/hr. NOx emissions from equipment subject to this rule must be reduced, in a two-phase approach, to an overall maximum of 0.03 lb NOx/MMBTU heat input by year-end 1995.
Regulated equipment also must be measured by a continuous in stack emissions monitor, or NOx CEMS (continuous emissions monitoring system). These CEMSs must comply with Scaqmd Rule 218, which specifies monitoring system standards and record-keeping and reporting requirements.
NOx emissions from smaller furnaces and boilers (40 MMBTU/hr or less) are subject to Rule 1146, and are limited to 40 ppm NOx output.
The Torrance refinery uses a number of NOx-reduction systems. Several of the refinery's heaters have ultralow-NOx burners, which use flue gas recirculation and staged-combustion technologies to reduce NOx formation (OGJ, Nov. 2,1992, p. 45).
NOx emissions from the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) are reduced by using a licensed urea-injection system, which the refinery installed voluntarily several years ago. The system, located between the FCCU and CO boiler, has reduced NOx emissions by 40%, according to Scott McArthur, leader of the refinery's air group.
In addition, nine process heaters are vented through five selective catalytic reduction systems. Known as SCR, the process uses ammonia to convert NOx to nitrogen and water as the flue gas passes over a catalyst grid.
The SCR systems achieve 90% NOx removal, says McArthur. The use of SCR and ultralow-NOx burners has achieved NOx emission factors as low as 0.005 lb/MMBTU, according to Mobil.
Stationary internal combustion engines larger than 50 hp (with some exceptions, such as firefighting and emergency standby engines) are subject to Scaqmd Rule 1110.2. This rule requires the installation of stringent NOx-control equipment on subject internal combustion engines by yearend 1994.
Alternatively, subject engines can be replaced by electrically powered motors.
SOX SOURCES
Refinery fuel gas is monitored continuously for sulfur compounds by a continuous-emissions-monitoring gas chromatograph. Federal new source performance standards (NSPS) regulations impose a 162 ppm limit on fuel gas H2S for refinery equipment governed by the rule.
Scaqmd Rule 431.1 limits fuel gas sulfur content to 40 ppm total sulfur and 16 ppm H2S. Even though the Reclaim program will eliminate this rule, the refinery will install voluntarily equipment to treat the fuel gas to remove H2S, R-SH, and COS compounds. One such cleanup technology is amine treating, followed by caustic wash and kerosine washing.
SOx emissions from the FCCU are subject to Scaqmd Rule 1105, and are limited to 132 lb SOx per 1,000 bbl feed charged to the unit. The refinery meets this requirement by desulfurizing FCC feed.
By hydrotreating FCC feed and using a "de-SOx" catalyst, Mobil has reduced SOx emissions from the FCCU from less than the current Scaqmd limit of 60 kg/1,000 bbl feed to 7.6 kg/1,000 bbl-87% less than Scaqmd's limit.
Compliance with Rule 1105 is verified using a continuous in stack SO2 monitor, which also serves to comply with the record keeping and reporting requirements of Scaqmd Rule 218.
Emissions of SOx from the sulfur-recovery unit are regulated by Scaqmd Rule 468, which limits SO2 mass emission and concentration levels, as well as H2S emission concentrations. In additions, NSPS for sulfur-recovery units apply.
Selective amine scrubbing is used in the tailgas plant of the main sulfur-recovery unit. The Stretford process is used in the backup unit, says McArthur.
Continuous in-stack emissions monitors are used in the sulfur recovery section also. These monitors are subject to the requirements of Scaqmd Rule 218.
PARTICULATES
Particulate emissions are regulated by Scaqmd Rules 404 and 405, which specify concentration and mass emission levels from any single source. The refinery's FCCU employs several technologies to comply with these rules.
Flue gas from the FCC regenerator passes through a series of cyclone separator chambers, which reduce particulate levels. The gas is then passed through an electrostatic precipitator with ammonia injection for final control. The system also includes a particulate filter after the precipitation stage.
Stack opacity levels in the unit are monitored continuously. Source tests are conducted as required.
FUGITIVE EMISSIONS
Scaqmd's Rule 463 specifies the types of tank seals to be used on floating-roof tanks and restricts the allowable seal gap.
Current best available control technology (BACT) for external and internal-roof storage tanks is multiple dual-wiper seals with drip curtain and approved roof. BACT for fixed-roof tanks is a vapor-recovery system with an overall system efficiency of at least 95%.
Scaqmd's Rule 1149 regulates emissions from tanks that are removed from service for cleaning or other reasons. The rule requires that at least 90% of the vapors in the tank be recovered before the tank is opened.
Mobil uses a tank-degassing system that evacuates tank vapors and recovers them via refrigeration.
Scaqmd allows companies that demonstrate compliance with the storage tank rules to monitor themselves. Monitoring includes checking seals for leaks, measuring seal gaps, and reporting the results. The refinery participates in this program.
Scaqmd's inspection and maintenance Rule 1173 requires monitoring of all valves, flanges, pumps, and compressors quarterly and specifies repair intervals. Records must be kept on all of the organic vapor analyzer readings each quarter.
The refinery contains more than 140,000 such components that must be monitored. The process requires a full-time crew to inspect tank seals and another full-time crew to monitor the components using the organic vapor analyzers.
New pumps must be sealless or have dual tandem mechanical seals. Compressor seals must be vented to vapor recovery.
NSPS standards require a closed drain system in refineries. The Torrance plant uses P-traps to seal the drain system. The equipment in the waste water treatment area is connected to a vapor-recovery-system, as required by Scaqmd Rule 1176.
During refinery turnarounds, vessel degassing is regulated by Scaqmd. When vessels are depressured or the contained gas is displaced with nitrogen, the vented gas must be sent to the vapor-recovery system.
CARBON MONOXIDE
Carbon monoxide is regulated by Scaqmd Rule 407 and is limited to 2,000 ppm, unless regulated under other rules. Rule 1110.2, for example, limits CO emissions from stationary internal combustion engines to 2,000 ppm, while CO from small furnaces and boilers is limited to 400 ppm by Rule 1146.
Compliance with these rules is verified by source testing.
HYDROFLUORIC ACID
Scaqmd Rule 1410 regulates the refinery's HF alkylation process. The rule requires mitigation measures to prevent the dispersion of HF vapors in the event of an accidental catastrophic release of acid.
The Torrance refinery has installed HF-detection devices throughout the alkylation unit. If these sensors are activated by an acid release, Scaqmd is notified directly by the remote terminal unit, which is linked directly to Scaqmd's computer system.
The refinery has an acid evacuation system and a water-spray vapor mitigation system. The entire unit can be operated remotely from the central control room.
Although Rule 1410 has been suspended as a result of a lawsuit filed by another refinery, Mobil continues to comply with its provisions.
WASTE WATER
The refinery discharges its waste water to the Los Angeles County, Sanitation District, a publicly owned treatment works. The oily waste water is discharged to the Van Ness outfall and the oil-free waste water to the Del Amo outfall.
The oily waste water comprises streams such as oily process waters, desalter blowdown waters, and some boiler blowdown waters. These streams are collected in a dedicated sewer, where they gravity-flow to the API separator for removal of suspended solids and air.
Hydrogen peroxide solution is injected to control the sulfide ion concentration in the waste water. The water is then pumped to the gas flotation units, which remove additional oil and solids. Polymer flocculent is injected to assist this removal.
The treated waste water is discharged continuously as long as it meets all discharge requirements (Table 1). If the limits are not met, the refinery must impound the waste water and treat it to meet specifications before it is discharged.
The oil-free waste water comprises mainly cooling tower blowdown, stripped sour water, and demineralizer/regenerator waste water.
Both discharge outfalls are continuously monitored for flow, pH, lower explosive limit (LEL), and sulfides. The refinery has automatic impounding capability at the Van Ness outfall, where oily waste water is discharged. This capability is not necessary at the Del Amo outfall because the oil-free waste water is already discharged in batch operation.
The refinery also must monitor chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), aromatics (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, or BTEX), fluorides, phenols, and sulfates. Although there are n.Q limits on these constituents, they must be reported to the sanitation district periodically.
The plant's waste water discharge fees are based on total flow, peak flow, COD, SS, thiosulfates, and benzene.
GROUND/STORMWATER
The refinery's Npdes permit for discharging treated groundwater and stormwater was renewed in early 1993. The new permit is more stringent than the original because it establishes reduced contaminant concentration limits for some constituents and requires increased monitoring.
The basis for the permit limits was the Inland Surface Water Plan developed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board to comply with the federal Clean Water Act. The plan was issued in April 1991 to set standards for water discharged into the storm channels that feed to the Pacific Ocean.
The most significant requirement is for chronic toxicity: in an undiluted water sample, there can be no observable effect for a minimum of three test species. This requirement is difficult to meet, even if activated carbon is used for treatment.
If the limit is not consistently met, a toxicity reduction evaluation must be performed to determine what is causing the toxicity. This test can be extremely time-consuming and expensive.
The Torrance plant was the first refinery in the Los Angeles basin to be issued a permit based on the Inland Surface Water Plan.
GROUNDWATER STATUS
Most groundwater projects, from the cleanup program to soil-remediation projects, fall under the jurisdiction of the site cleanup unit of the Regional Water Quality Control Board. Mobil has voluntary bimonthly meetings with the board for project updates.
In 1985, the control board ordered all major refiners in the L.A. basin to embark on extensive site investigations of the groundwater and soils. Mobil drilled several monitoring wells, identified the contaminated areas in both the saturated and unsaturated zones, identified the free-phase hydrocarbon product, characterized the contaminants, and analyzed the hydrogeology of the site.
The board issued a cleanup and abatement order in 1988, requiring Mobil to begin cleanup of free-phase hydrocarbons and a dissolved hydrocarbon plume in the groundwater. The order was amended the following year after the dissolved hydrocarbon plume was discovered to have extended off site.
Product recovery has been continuous since 1986. Free hydrocarbons are recovered mainly by pneumatic pumps operating in 25 wells. Typical recovery for the refinery is about 60,000 gal/year of hydrocarbon.
An environmental consultant maintained this program through 1991. But as Mobil increased its expertise, it was able to bring the program in-house in 1992, along with much of the groundwater reporting requirements.
Today Mobil's instrument technicians maintain the systems and the environmental foremen monitor them. This program has not only increased recovery, but also cut costs.
DISSOLVED HYDROCARBONS
Mobil is cleaning up a dissolved hydrocarbon plume in the subsurface aquifer using pump-and-treat technology.
Seven extraction wells along the southeastern perimeter of the refinery, and one well in the middle of the off site plume, pump about 1,000 gpm of groundwater on site to a granular activated carbon unit. Treated groundwater is discharged to the Dominquez Channel, which flows to the Pacific Ocean.
The carbon unit removes BTEX from the groundwater (BTEX concentration is reduced from about 15 ppm to below drinking water standards). But more importantly, says Sparks, the pumping action creates an hydraulic barrier that prevents the continued migration of the dissolved plume.
The carbon unit comprises two parallel trains, each with two vessels containing 20,000 lb carbon each. The carbon is changed out twice per month, which costs about $500,000/year.
Mobil is investigating several innovative pretreatment technologies that can reduce carbon loading and thus costs.
ln 1992, the refinery treated groundwater in a small biological fluidized-bed reactor pilot unit. The biological fluidized-bed reactor pilot unit successfully degraded BTEX using bacteria supported on carbon. Mobil plans to investigate other technologies, such as ozonation.
Mobil also is investigating in situ groundwater remediation technologies, such as air sparging and bioremediation, to provide a barrier to plume migration. And soil vapor extraction plans for remediating the contamination source also are in the works, says Sparks.
The refinery must file a subsurface cleanup status report twice per year with the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The report includes: a progress summary, planned activities, product recovery, groundwater level data, groundwater sampling results, isoconcentration maps, water-level contour maps, and much more.
Historically, this data reporting was conducted by the refinery's environmental consultant at a cost of $150,000/year. In 1992, however, Mobil brought most of the work in-house.
The refinery's environmental engineers do the technical work, under the guidance of Mobil's corporate groundwater technology group. Only the field activities-sampling and gauging-are contracted out.
As a result, the process now costs $50,000/year, saving the refinery $100,000 annually.
The amended cleanup and abatement order required the refinery to establish a leak-detection program covering aboveground storage tanks and underground piping. As a result, the refinery is committed to inspecting, leak testing, and repairing all its hydrocarbon tanks by 1998.
Moreover, several tanks deemed in critical service will be fitted with double bottoms.
The refinery has instituted a similar program for underground and ground-level piping. And all of its underground storage tanks have been removed, as mandated primarily by the Torrance Fire Department.
SOIL TREATMENT
California's definition of hazardous wastes is much more stringent than the EPA'S. The state has stricter toxicity tests, and it regulates compounds that are not regulated by EPA, including nickel, antimony, beryllium, cobalt, copper, molybdenum, silver, thallium, vanadium, and zinc.
The Regional Water Quality Control Board establishes cleanup standards for designated wastes that have the potential to impact groundwater.
For most refineries in Southern California, accepted cleanup levels are 100 ppm gasoline and 1,000 ppm diesel-range hydrocarbons, as established by the California manual for leaking underground fuel tanks. Recently, however, the board began accepting risk-based cleanup levels using fate and transport modeling to estimate contaminant migration in the subsurface, and risk analyses to evaluate the consequences of migration.
Scaqmd promulgated a rule regulating emissions of volatile organic compounds from soil. Soil may not emit greater than 50 ppm volatile hydrocarbons, as measured with an organic vapor analyzer 3 in. from the soil surface.
For soil excavation and remediation, vapor suppressants and plastic are used to reduce emissions.
IN SITU CLEANUP
The Torrance refinery has a goal of recycling 100% of its nonhazardous contaminated soil on site. In 1990, more than ??,500 tons of soil were sent to landfills; in 1992, only 820 tons were disposed in landfills.
The refinery has conducted numerous in situ soil remediation projects. For hydrocarbon-contaminated soil, bioremediation has been implemented successfully.
The top 3 ft of soil in a stormwater retention basin (12,000 cu yd) was mixed mechanically with a soil stabilizer to introduce oxygen to the subsurface. Nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) and water were added to promote the growth of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria.
Mobil performed most of the work in-house, resulting in significant cost savings over using consultants. The soils were remediated to levels less than those designated "cleanup" and closure was granted by the control board.
In another in situ bioremediation project, Mobil cleaned up 14,000 cu yd of soil underlying a concrete basin by constructing a network of oxygen supply and vacuum extraction wells. The extracted vapors were passed through two activated carbon beds to remove hydrocarbons.
High and low-pH soils also were treated in situ at the refinery. Acetic acid was drip-irrigated over the high-pH soil to reduce the pH to 5-9. In low-pH areas, lime (calcium hydroxide) was mixed with the soil to increase the pH to 5-9.
EX SITU CLEANUP
The refinery has two ex situ soil remediation projects under way.
About 5,000 cu yd of soil were removed to increase the capacity of a tank dike. The soil was stockpiler on a high-density polyethylene liner. During stockpiling, a piping network was constructed to pull air through the pile and provide water drainage.
Water and nutrients were drip-irrigated through the pile to promote bacteria growth. A vacuum was applied to the piping to oxygenate the microbes.
A second project involves about 60,000 cu yd of lead and hydrocarbon-contaminated soil. The refinery completed bench and pilot-scale feasibility studies on 12 technologies, including fixation/stabilization, soil washing,, solvent washing, heap leach-extraction, froth flotation, bioremediation, thermal desorption, electrokinetic extraction, asphalt incorporation, and vitrification.
Heap leach-extraction and chemical fixation/stabilization arose as the leading technologies.
OTHER PROGRAMS
The refinery is designing and permitting a soil treatment unit using bioremediation and vapor extraction. Fate and transport modeling and risk analysis were conducted to determine risk-based cleanup levels.
Mobil will operate the unit and treat soil from the refinery and from other Mobil-owned facilities.
The refinery implemented an internal excavation planning policy in 1992. Engineers planning to excavate any soil must file an excavation planning report with the refinery's environmental department.
A site assessment is then performed on the area, either by sampling soil or researching past sampling results. Most site assessments involving sampling are conducted in-house.
The plant's hazardous materials crew has been trained in soil sampling with a hand auger and is capable of taking samples down to 10 ft.
The refinery now excavates soil and segregates it by degree and type of contamination.
Excavations producing hazardous soils are known in advance, giving the refinery more time to arrange disposal. And the many records documenting each assessment and excavation provide a refinery-wide site assessment, says Sparks.
FUELS
In October 1993, CARB regulations specifying a new diesel formulation took effect (OGJ, Oct. 25, 1993, p. 19). The CARB regulation, and simultaneous EPA regulations under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, limited diesel sulfur content to 0.05 wt %. But the CARB formula also specified a maximum aromatics content of 10 vol
The CARB regulation included provisions to allow refiners to develop their own clean diesel formulas, provided they achieve the same 25% pollution reduction as CARB diesel. Mobil has, to date, declined to participate in producing and marketing CARB diesel fuel.
CARB GASOLINE
California's South Coast has the worst ozone pollution in the U.S. So although the Clean Air Act Amendments mandate the use of cleaner, reformulated gasoline in ozone nonattainment cities, CARB is requiring even stricter specifications be met (Table 2).
These specifications, known as CARB Phase 2 regulations, are designed to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds and NOx-which react to form ozone-and reduce emissions Of CO, SO2, and toxic air pollutants from vehicles.
The refinery already hydrotreats most of the FCCU feed, which will help it meet the sulfur specifications of CARB gasoline. Two new boilers will meet the project's steam requirements. increased hydrogen production also will be required.
Mobil also plans to make minor modifications to several process units at the Torrance refinery to comply with these fuel requirements.
California law requires public review of an environmental impact report (EIR) for any project that may have a significant adverse effect on the environment. Scaqmd determined that the Torrance refinery's reformulated gasoline project may have such an impact, and required the company to produce an EIR for the project.
The EIR was certified earlier this year, reports Mobil. Shortly thereafter, permits were issued and construction began. The company declines to provide additional details on its reformulated fuels project at this time.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
