Iraq lets contract for Karbala refinery

April 8, 2015
Iraq, through a subcontractor, has let a contract to Doosan Hydro Technology LLC (DHT), Tampa, Fla., to provide water treatment services for the country’s long-planned, grassroots refinery under construction in southern Karbala province, 100 km south of Baghdad.

Iraq, through a subcontractor, has let a contract to Doosan Hydro Technology LLC (DHT), Tampa, Fla., to provide water treatment services for the country’s long-planned, grassroots refinery under construction in southern Karbala province, 100 km south of Baghdad (OGJ Online, Aug. 1, 2011).

Awarded in early March, the contract covers the complete wastewater treatment package for the refinery, DHT said.

DHT’s scope of supply under the contract will involve delivery a wastewater treatment package that includes:

• An American Petroleum Institute oil-water separator.

• A dissolved air flotation system.

• A membrane bioreactor.

• Activated carbon filters.

• First, second, and third-stage reverse osmosis systems.

The contract package also includes supply of dehydrators, as well as technology for softening and thickening, DHT said.

Following treatment, processing wastewater will be reused in the refinery, while solid waste and reverse osmosis brine will be sent to an incinerator and brine concentrator, respectively, according to the service provider.

The wastewater treatment package is based on DHT’s zero liquid discharge (ZLD) system, which incorporates biological, physical, and chemical treatment processes as pretreatment to membrane systems and thermal processes to meet client specifications and discharge requirements, the company said.

A value of the contract was not disclosed.

This latest order for the Karbala refinery follows the Iraqi government’s early-2014 award of a $6.04-billion engineering, procurement, and construction contract to a four-company consortium of South Korean companies led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction (OGJ Online, Jan. 9, 2014).

The planned 140,000-b/d refinery, on which construction began in February 2014, will produce liquefied gas, gasoline, gas oil, fuel oil, jet fuel, and asphalt meeting international standards equivalent to European production to help meet growing domestic Iraqi demand (OGJ Online, Feb. 26, 2014).

The new refinery is part of Iraq’s longer-term plan to construct four refineries in an effort to add 750,000 b/d of refining capacity. Other planned projects include a 300,000-b/d Nassiriya refinery as well as two additional refineries in Maysan and Kirkuk, each with a capacity of 150,000 b/d (OGJ Online, June 4, 2013).

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].