Malfunction forces unit shutdown at Ohio refinery

May 29, 2015
A compressor malfunction has forced an unplanned shutdown of the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at PBF Energy Inc.’s 170,000-b/d refinery at Toledo, Ohio.

A compressor malfunction has forced an unplanned shutdown of the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at PBF Energy Inc.’s 170,000-b/d refinery at Toledo, Ohio.

The FCC likely will remain out of service for 2-3 weeks, PBF Energy says.

While unaffected units at the refinery continue to operate at reduced rates, the company is continuing to monitor the situation to assess the economic impact of the FCC’s unplanned downtime.

Currently, PBF Energy expects the Toledo refinery’s total throughput for this year’s second quarter to average 130,000-140,000 b/d, with full-year throughput expected to average 145,000-155,000 b/d, the company said.

Further details regarding the incident were not disclosed.

The Toledo refinery processes light, sweet crude, the majority of which is delivered via pipelines from Canada and the US.

Since acquiring the Toledo refinery from Sunoco Inc. in 2011 (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2011), PBF Energy has added additional truck and rail crude unloading capabilities that provide feedstock sourcing flexibility for the refinery and enable the plant to run a more cost-advantaged crude slate (OGJ, Aug. 5, 2013, p. 91).

In addition to its 170,000-b/d crude distillation and 79,000-b/d FCC units, the Toledo refinery includes the following processing capacities:

• Hydrotreating: 95,000 b/d.

• Hydrocracking: 45,000 b/d.

• Catalytic reforming: 45,000 b/d.

• Alkylation: 10,000 b/d.

• Udex benzene extraction: 16,300 b/d.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].