Russia’s PJSC Gazprom Neft, St. Petersburg, has reached 20% completion on construction of its previously announced project to build a Euro+ combined oil refining unit (CORU) as part of the ongoing modernization and upgrade of its 12.15 million-tonne/year Moscow refinery (OGJ Online, June 2, 2016).
The company has completed installation of key Euro+ CORU equipment, including a 150-tonne, 60-m high reforming column that consists of four stacked reactors into which gasoline fractions will flow from the crude distillation unit for interaction with catalyst to produce high-performance gasoline components, Gazprom Neft said.
Continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) technology will ensure uninterrupted catalyst circulation between the reforming column and an associated regeneration unit to prevent any pause in production during the catalyst regeneration process, the company said without identifying the CCR licensor.
Construction on Euro+ CORU most recently involved installation of two hydrotreating reactors and an isodewaxing unit at the project’s Euro+ diesel hydrotreating plant, according to a Nov. 1, 2016, release from Gazprom Neft.
The Euro+ CORU project, which will replace outdated equipment and be fully compliant with Russia’s current ecological standards and environmental regulations, will involve installation of the following:
• A 6 million-tonne/year (tpy) primary atmospheric-vacuum distillation unit (CDU-VDU 6).
• A 1 million-tpy gasoline reforming unit.
• A 2 million-tpy diesel (distillate) hydrotreating unit, which will include an iso-dewaxing unit.
• A gas fractionation unit.
• An amine regeneration unit.
In addition to reducing the refinery’s total environmental impact from processing activities by 11%/tonne of crude processed, the project will improve the complex’s operational energy efficiency as well as increase its intermaintenance period to 4 years from a current 2 years, the company said (OGJ Online, July 23, 2015).
First announced in 2013, Euro+ CORU forms a key project under Gazprom Neft’s second-phase modernization work at the Moscow refinery, which specifically aims to further improve the manufacturing site’s overall environmental performance as well as its yield of light-end, Euro 5-quality petroleum products (OGJ Online Jan. 14, 2015).
The project remains on schedule for startup in late 2018.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
