ASHLAND OUTLINES $261 MILLION IN REFINERY UNIT CONSTRUCTION

Ashland Petroleum Co. has spelled out $261 million in projects completed, under way, or planned to produce cleaner fuel and further reduce emissions at two U.S. refineries.

The company:

Started up a $13 million pollution control system at its 213,400 b/cd Catlettsburg, Ky., plant. In addition, it is proceeding with construction of two major processing units that will allow the plant to produce cleaner fuels.
Started construction on six projects at its 67,100 b/cd St. Paul Park, Minn., refinery that will cost about $114 million and enable the plant to produce cleaner burning diesel fuel and further reduce emissions.

CATLETTSBURG PROJECTS

Ashland installed two electrostatic precipitators on the flue gas boiler stack of the Catlettsburg refinery's fluid catalytic cracking unit to further reduce particulate emissions from existing pollution control equipment.

The new pollution control system uses electrically charged plates that capture particulates from FCC process gases before reaching the unit's stack. The 57,000 b/d FCC unit converts gas oil from the crude distillation unit into gasoline blending stocks and fuel oils.

While particulate emissions from the FCC flue gas stack were not excessive, adding the electrostatic precipitators results in cleaner air, Ashland said.

The units will operate simultaneously. However, one can be shut down for maintenance while the other continues operating at full capacity.

In addition to the new pollution control system, Ashland is about 30% complete in construction of a $68 million distillate desulfurizer, and work has started on a $66 million continuous catalyst regenerator (CCR).

The 40,000 b/d desulfurizer will provide additional hydrotreating capacity for production of low sulfur diesel fuel. Effective October 1993, Environmental Protection Agency rules will require U.S. refiners to produce diesel fuel for trucks that has no more than 0.05 wt % sulfur. Currently, diesel fuel is permitted to have as much as 0.5 wt % sulfur.

The 16,500 b/d CCR will produce high octane, low vapor pressure gasoline components.

ST. PAUL PARK

Projects under way or scheduled to start in second half 1992 at St. Paul Park are:

A $50 million, 20, 000 b/d distillate desulfurizer.
Utilities and offsite units costing a combined $19 million. This will include electrical substations, cooling water facilities, condensate recovery, sewers, and additional tanks.
A 10 MMcfd hydrogen plant expected to cost $14 million. Its hydrogen stream will be required to desulfurize diesel fuel in the new distillate desulfurizer.
A 50 ton/day sulfur recovery/Shell Claus offgas treating (SCOT) unit. The $10 million unit will recover sulfur from process gases and reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.
$7 million in upgrades to refinery controls. This involves continued installation of digital distributed control systems for process units.
Waste water treatment processes totaling $14 million.

Construction of the sulfur recovery/ SCOT unit is to be complete by yearend, while the hydrogen unit, distillate desulfurizer and utility projects are to be finished in 1993. The refinery controls upgrade, started in 1991, is progressing toward a 1993 completion. The waste water treatment project is to be complete in 1994.

Including Catlettsburg, St. Paul Park, and its 66,000 b/cd Canton, Ohio, refinery, Ashland has more than $300 million in announced capital improvement projects at refineries.

Ashland expects to spend nearly $1 billion throughout the 1990s on refinery projects to produce cleaner fuels and further reduce plant emissions.