Unipetrol RPA SRO-Rafinerie, the refining arm of Unipetrol AS and parent company Polski Koncern Naftowy SA (PKN Orlen), has let a contract to Finland’s Neste Jacobs Oy to perform a comprehensive study of the 5.4 million-tpy refinery in Litvinov, Czech Republic.
Neste Jacobs will perform the energy efficiency study using its proprietary NAPCON energy performance analysis, which includes a combination of high-level process know-how and modelling skills, pinch-technology, equipment expertise, and automation solutions, the service company said.
The planned modular approach to the refinery’s energy performance will identify potential areas of feasible improvement and create a practical action plan to implement the proposed improvements, Neste Jacobs said.
To be fully customized based on Unipetrol’s needs, the study specifically will review existing energy consumption and production within the refinery process units, including pinch analysis to identify opportunities to improve heat integration of processes as well as ways to maximize benefits of fired heater operations at the plant.
Alongside analysis of the refinery’s energy efficiency, the study also will include an assessment of wastewater optimization opportunities to help minimize water usage and wastewater recycling.
The study comes as part of Unipetrol’s commitment under its energy management system certification to maintain and make ongoing improvements to a sustainable energy efficiency program at the refinery, said Tomas Herink, the member of Unipetrol’s board of directors responsible for research and development.
Unipetrol RPA completed integration of both the Litvinov refinery and 3.3 million-tonne/year Kralupy refinery into its newly created organizational unit—Unipetrol RPA SRO-Rafinerie—as of Jan. 1, Unipetrol said in a Jan. 4 press release.
While both refineries were operated by former Unipetrol subsidiary Ceska Rafinerska AS (CRC), the CRC subsidiary was dissolved and ceased to exist with the Jan. 1 integration, Unipetrol said (OGJ Online May, 4, 2015).
Unipetrol’s 2015 buyout of CRC follows the company’s overall strategy for 2013-17, in which the operator said it would focus capital investment on projects designed to further integrate the refining and petrochemical segments of its business in order to guarantee secure feedstock supplies for its petrochemical operations (OGJ Online, July 3, 2014).
In addition to the Litvinov and Kralupy refineries—the Czech Republic’s only two—Unipetrol RPA also owns and operates a 544,000-tpy ethylene plant in the Unipetrol-owned Chempark Zaluzi petrochemical complex in Litvinov.
The Litvinov steam cracker resumed full operations earlier this year following $167.8-million reconstruction program and additional preventative maintenance works in the wake of an August 2015 explosion and ensuing fire that led to the unit’s extended shutdown (OGJ Online, Sept. 1, 2016).
Initially restarted in October 2016, the cracker returned to full and steady operation on Mar. 10 following the company’s decision in late February (based on results of a regular inspection) to once again shutter the unit to replace part of a piping system that, while not directly affected by the August 2015 incident, was upgraded as a precautionary measure to ensure safe and reliable future performance, according to a Mar. 13 press release from Unipetrol.
The year, Unipetrol said it will continue to focus on working to complete its grassroots polyethylene 3 (PE3) production unit at its Chempark Zaluzi Litvinov plant, on which construction started in June 2016 (OGJ Online, June 7, 2016).
At a capital cost of 8-billion koruna—the biggest investment to date in the history of the Czech petrochemical industry—the 270,000-tpy PE3 unit remains on schedule to be commissioned in mid-2018, PKN Orlen told investors in March.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
