Vietnam’s BSR taps Maire technology for new unit at Dung Quat refinery

Vietnam Oil & Gas Group (PetroVietnam) affiliate Binh Son Refining & Petrochemical JSC (BSR)—formerly Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd.—has let a contract to a subsidiary of Maire SPA’s Rome-based NextChem SPA for delivery of a new hydrogen production unit (HPU) to be installed at the operator’s 6.5-million tonne/year (tpy) refinery in the Dung Quat Economic Zone of Binh Tri Commune in Binh Son District, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam.

As part of the Oct. 10 contract, NextChem’s KT-Kinetics Technology SPA (KT Tech) will provide the process design package (PDP) and licensing of its proprietary NX Reform hydrogen technology for the grassroots HPU, which will be equipped to produce 22,676 cu m/hr of hydrogen, Maire said in a release.

Alongside technology licensing and the PDP for the project, the contract also includes supply of KT Tech’s proprietary equipment for the steam-methane reforming process upon start of the new unit’s construction, according to the service provider.

Based on steam-methane reforming methods and incorporating carbon dioxide-capture technology, implementation of NX Reform technology in the proposed HPU will enable BSR to produce hydrogen with a lower carbon footprint and higher operational efficiency, as well as provide the operator production adaptability via increased flexibility in terms of feedstock and capacity, Maire said.

Without revealing a value or duration of the newly awarded contract, Maire did confirm the proposed HPU comes as part of BSR’s long-planned upgrading and expansion project (DQRE) at the complex, which primarily aims to increase the refinery’s crude processing capacity by 30% to 8.5 million tpy (OGJ Online, Nov. 9, 2016; Aug. 31, 2015).

On Mar. 28, 2024, BSR approved adjustments to the DQRE, which the operator said it expects to be implemented over a 37-month period from the signing of the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract, according to May 2024 release from BSR.

While it has yet to confirm a main EPC contractor on the project, BSR said the DQRE is currently targeted for commissioning in 2028.

Once in operation, the DQRE will enable the refinery to process the equivalent of 171,000 b/d of crude oil—up from its current equivalent nameplate capacity of 148,000 b/d—into higher-value finished products conforming to Euro 5-quality standards.

In addition to increasing the volume of petroleum products such as LPG and aviation fuel (Jet-A1), the completed DQRE will expand the refinery’s production of petrochemical products, on which BSR plans to shift its focus in the future, the company said.

By yearend 2023, continued upgrades and improvements at Dung Quat resulted in the refinery achieving a throughput rate of 7.34 million tpy for an annual utilization rate of 111%, its highest since entering operation in 2014, BSR said in its latest annual report.