Lukoil’s Sicilian refinery lets contract for hydrotreater revamp

ISAB SRL, a subsidiary of PJSC Lukoil of Russia, has let a contract to DuPont Clean Technologies, a division of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., to provide technology licensing for the upgrade of an existing processing unit to enable production of ultralow-sulfur fuel at its 320,000-b/d Priolo refinery in Sicily’s eastern province of Syracuse.

DuPont Clean Technologies will license its proprietary IsoTherming hydroprocessing technology to revamp the refinery’s trickle-bed diesel hydrotreater as part of a project to increase unit capacity to 31,000 b/sd as well as extend catalyst-cycle length, DuPont said on Feb. 23.

Alongside enabling production of low-sulfur fuels and extended length of catalyst life, the IsoTherming technology revamp also will allow ISAB the opportunity to process more-difficult cracked feedstock without sacrificing product quality or additional catalyst volume, according to the service provider.

Startup of ISAB’s IsoTherming diesel hydrotreater at Priolo is scheduled to occur by 2024, DuPont said without disclosing further details of the project.

Lukoil assumed ownership of the Priolo refinery—which consists of three production sites interconnected via a system of pipelines—from former joint-venture partner ERG SPA in late 2013 (OGJ Online, Jan. 2, 2014).