Croatia’s INA commissions new crude distillation tower at Rijeka refinery

Croatia’s INA Industrija Nafte DD has added a new fractionation column at the crude distillation unit (CDU) of its 90,000-b/d Rijeka refinery along the northern part of the Adriatic Sea as part of the operator’s ongoing program to boost performance and competitiveness of its Croatian refining business.

After 22 months from receiving the project contract, Sulzer Chemtech Ltd.’s Sulzer GTC engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) group completed supply and installation of the 265-tonnes, 44-m high, 5.6-m internal diameter column—which was delivered in one piece, with all internals preinstalled—during a planned shutdown of the refinery, ahead of schedule, the service provider said.

Equipped with 48 internal trays, the new column—designed to replace the CDU’s former column that was no longer suitable for operation after 40 years of service—is now fully operational and, following process intensification activities to be implemented during the refinery’s next turnaround, will equip the CDU to reach INA’s intended target of processing 600 tonnes/hr of crude, according to Sulzer.

Alongside installing the column and performing extensive engineering studies to help INA determine key modifications that could be implemented during a planned revamp of the CDU, Sulzer GTC EPCM group’s scope of work on the project included delivery of front-end engineering design, mass transportation coordination, support in documentation to obtain building permits, and execution of various on-site technical services.

In addition to increasing processing capacity and energy efficiency based on INA’s existing needs, the new column will help support future modifications at the unit to further increase the refinery’s productivity, according to Stjepan Nikolić, INA’s operating director of refining and marketing.

The CDU tower replacement follows INA’s December 2019 final investment decision on a more-than $600-million plan to modernize the Rijeka refinery as part of the operator’s Downstream 2023 New Course program, which intends to help reduce losses of the refining business by ensuring long-term sustainability and profitability of refining and marketing operations. The modernization program also involves concentration of crude processing activities at the Rijeka refinery and conversion of the company’s 44,000-b/d refinery in Sisak into a biorefining and petrochemical production site for bitumen, renewables, and potentially lubricants, as well as equipping it to perform as a modern logistics hub (OGJ Online, Dec. 13, 2019).

INA also let a contract in December 2019 to Maire Tecnimont SPA subsidiary KT-Kinetics Technology SPA to provide engineering, procurement, and construction services for a new delayed coking complex at the Rijeka refinery (OGJ Online, Dec. 20, 2019).

INA is jointly owned by Hungary’s MOL Group subsidiary MOL PLC 49.1%, the Republic of Croatia 44.8%, and private and institutional investors 6.1%.