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WORLD NEWS
IN BRIEF
August
2019
HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
6
Germany |
OMV invests €64 million in new
petrochemicals plant
O
MV has invested
€
64 million in
the construction of an ISO C4
plant – the building phase of which is
to begin in summer 2019 at the
Burghausen Refinery, with operations
planned to start in September 2020.
From this point onwards, high-purity
isobutene will be produced in
Burghausen using a brand new
technology.
The idea behind the method for
heat integration came about through
a collaboration by OMV and BASF
and a global patent was jointly filed
by both companies. BASF offers a
catalyst system that fulfils the
specific process requirements. The
new unit for the production of
high-purity isobutene will be
integrated into the existing
metathesis plant at the OMV
Burghausen Refinery, which is
responsible for the energy-efficient
manufacturing of propylene for the
plastics industry. The strategy
developed by OMV for heat
integration allows up to 80% of the
heating energy required by the new
process to be met by waste heat
from existing facilities. The ISO C4
unit will have a production capacity
of approximately 60 000 tpy.
USA |
EPA proposes renewable volume
obligations for 2020
U
S Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Administrator
Andrew Wheeler has issued a
proposed rule under the Renewable
Fuel Standard (RFS) programme that
would set the minimum amount of
renewable fuels that must be
supplied to the market in calendar
year 2020, as well as the
biomass-based diesel volume
standard for calendar year 2021.
This puts the EPA on target to
publish the final RFS Renewable
Volume Obligations (RVOs) on time
for the third consecutive year.
Under the action, ‘conventional’
renewable fuel volumes, primarily
met by corn ethanol, would be
maintained at the implied
15 billion gal. target set by Congress.
The EPA is also proposing an
advanced biofuel volume
requirement for 2020 of
5.04 billion gal., which is 0.12 billion gal.
higher than the advanced biofuel
volume requirement for 2019.
Chevron Lummus Global (CLG)
has been awarded the licence
and engineering contracts for a
270 000 tpy lubricants base oil
plant at Indian Oil Corp. Ltd’s Haldia
Refinery in West Bengal, India. The
plant will use CLG’s ISODEWAXING
and ISOFINISHING technologies.
ExxonMobil has started production
on a new high-performance
polyethylene line at its Beaumont,
Texas polyethylene plant. The
expansion increases plant production
capacity by 65% or 650 000 tpy,
bringing site capacity to nearly
1.7 million tpy.
After four years of teamwork
for project development and
execution, Axens has announced
that the new PolyFuel® unit at the
Petrobrazi refinery was started-up
and has been fully functional
since April 2019. In June 2019, the
unit test-run was successfully
completed, demonstrating that the
unit performances are in line with
expectations.
DuPont Clean Technologies has
been awarded contracts to supply
Shenghong Petrochemical Group
Co. with a STRATCO® alkylation
technology licence, engineering, and
proprietary equipment. Shenghong is
undertaking a project to design and
construct a new alkylation unit as
part of its grassroots petrochemical
and refining facility with crude oil
capacity of 16 million tpy located in
Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province,
China.
UAE |
ADNOC awards Bilfinger contracts
B
ilfinger’s Middle East division has
been awarded multiple
engineering contracts by Abu Dhabi
National Oil Co. (ADNOC). The
projects entail the provision of
front-end engineering design (FEED)
for onshore facilities.
Under the terms of the FEED
contracts, Bilfinger Tebodin Middle
East will provide engineering services
for a new wastewater treatment
plant located in a refinery complex
in Ruwais, as well as a basic design
and detailed engineering package to
enhance existing sulfur dust control
systems at two sulfur handling
facilities.
“We are excited to bring
Bilfinger Tebodin’s extensive
experience, quality and competitive
expertise to these important
projects, while adding value to the
local economy in Abu Dhabi,” said
Marco van der Linden, UAE Country
Director of Bilfinger Tebodin Middle
East.