Iraq's Baiji refinery due control upgrade

June 1, 2011
North Refineries Co. of Iraq named Honeywell the main engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for an upgrade of automation systems at its 310,000-b/d hydroskimming and hydrocracking refinery in Baiji.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 1
-- North Refineries Co. of Iraq named Honeywell the main engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for an upgrade of automation systems at its 310,000-b/d hydroskimming and hydrocracking refinery in Baiji.

Honeywell will fully automate the refinery, replacing a 30-year-old single-loop instrument control system. The contractor said the project, in addition to improving productivity, will offer “full scalability to support future technology upgrades.”

Built in 1982, the Baiji refinery has these processing capacities: catalytic reforming 46,000 b/d, catalytic hydrocracking 38,000 b/d, and catalytic hydrotreating 182,000 b/d.

It has design capacity to produce 64 MMcfd of hydrogen, 5,000 b/d of lube oils, and 26,000 b/d of asphalt.