Hengyi Industries lets contract for new alkylation unit at Brunei refinery

Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co. Ltd. subsidiary Hengyi Industries Sdn. Bhd. has let a contract to a division of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. to license technology for an alkylation unit to be built at Hengyi Industries’ 8-million tonnes/year integrated refining and petrochemical complex on Pulau Muara Besar island in Brunei.

DuPont Clean Technologies will supply its proprietary technology licensing, engineering services, and equipment for an 800,000-tpy (20,750-b/sd) STRATCO alkylation unit to enable the Pulau Muara Besar refinery to generate low-sulfur, high-octane, low-Reid vapor pressure (RVP) alkylate with zero olefins and zero aromatics for production of gasoline that complies with China 6-quality standards for cleaner fuels, the service provider said.

The refinery will use alkylate produced by the new unit to produce fuels for supply to Brunei’s domestic market as well as for export abroad, according to DuPont.

While DuPont did not disclose a value of the contract award, the service provider did confirm the new STRATCO alkylation unit is scheduled for startup in 2023.

Equivalent to and in some respects more stringent than Euro 6-quality fuel standards, China 6 emission standards taking effect in January 2021 cap the maximum sulfur content of gasoline and diesel at 10 ppm, according to China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Refinery background

Hengyi Industries’ contract award for the new alkylation unit follows the operator’s start of Euro 5-quality transportation fuels to Brunei’s domestic market in May, according to a release from the company.

On May 18, Hengyi Industries delivered its first supply of gasoline, diesel, and Jet A1 fuel from the Pulau Muara Besar refinery to Brunei Shell Marketing Co. Sdn. Bhd. (BSM) as part of a long-term domestic market distribution agreement with BSM signed on Sept. 18, 2019, Hengyi Industries said.

As part of the agreement, the Pulau Muara Besar refinery will regularly supply BSM 190,778 bbl of gasoline, 159,924 bbl of diesel, and 76,807 bbl of jet fuel to meet Brunei’s monthly domestic demand for petroleum products.

The May 2020 supply milestone follows official startup of the Pulau Muara Besar refinery’s first $3.45-billion phase in November 2019, Hengyi Industries said.

A second phase, which includes plans for further expansion of the site’s aromatics and cracker plant as well as increasing the refinery’s crude processing capacity by 14 million b/d to 22 million b/d, is scheduled for commissioning in 2022, according to information on operator’s website and local media reports from China and Brunei.

The Pulau Muara Besar refinery is jointly owned by Hengyi (70%) and the government of Brunei (30%).