NESTE BEGINS TEST OXYGENATE PROCESS AT FINNISH REFINERY

Finland's Neste Oy has started test production of gasoline oxygenates using a new proprietary process at its Porvoo refinery east of Helsinki. The new unit is expected to be commissioned this summer, after which it will produce as much as 110,000 metric tons/year of tertiary amyl ether (TAME). The process used is Nextame, which Neste recently has begun marketing. Licensing in North and South America is to be handled by Bechtel Corp. under an agreement signed Mar. 17.

April 10, 1995

2 min read

Finland's Neste Oy has started test production of gasoline oxygenates using a new proprietary process at its Porvoo refinery east of Helsinki.

The new unit is expected to be commissioned this summer, after which it will produce as much as 110,000 metric tons/year of tertiary amyl ether (TAME).

The process used is Nextame, which Neste recently has begun marketing. Licensing in North and South America is to be handled by Bechtel Corp. under an agreement signed Mar. 17.

HOW IT WORKS

Nextame takes the refinery's C5-C7 stream and etherifies it to produce TAME and heavier ethers. This differs from existing TAME processes, which work on a refinery's C5 cut.

Jyrki Ignatius, marketing manager for technology at Neste Engineering, said the Nextame process almost doubles TAME productivity of the best alternative process and requires no methanol recovery unit.

Those factors yield a 26% return on investment for Nextame, compared with 13% for the best alternative process, Ignatius said.

Neste estimates there are 20 TAME production units worldwide with combined capacity to produce 2 million metric tons/year.

Dozens of new units are said to be planned and under construction, particularly in the U.S., although TAME is expected to gain a strong foothold in Europe soon.

RFG ADDITIVE

At Porvoo, TAME will be added to reformulated gasoline sold by Neste and other retailers throughout Finland, as well as to, Neste-supplied retail networks in the Baltic states.

Neste's RFG will contain 6 vol % TAME and heavy ethers and 6 vol % methyl tertiary butyl ether. The two additives will provide a total 2 wt % oxygen in RFG.

Neste has a 4,100 b/d MTBE unit at Porvoo.