Unocal Corp.'s 76 Products Co. has completed modifications at its Los Angeles and San Francisco area refineries designed to produce reformulated gasoline (RFG) to the newest California specifications.
The work was finished ahead of schedule and more than $50 million under budget.
All refiners in the state are required to produce gasoline conforming with Phase II specifications established by the California Air Resources Board.
The new specs are more stringent than those for RFG established under federal air quality programs (see table, OGJ, Dec. 11, 1995, p. 22).
CARB reckons Phase II RFG will remove 3 million lb/day of polluting air emissions, equal to taking 3.5 million cars off of California's roadways.
Unocal projects
Originally budgeted at $450 million, Unocal's refinery modifications were completed for less than $400 million.
The projects, which required construction of new units as well as modifications of other refinery units, got under way in 1993.
Unocal added a 24 MMcfd hydrogen plant and a Penex plus unit and expanded the isomerization unit to 10,500 b/d at its 103,645 b/d Rodeo refinery in the San Francisco Bay area.
At the 118,750 b/d Wilmington refinery in the Los Angeles area, Unocal moved in a hydrotreater from its mothballed shale oil upgrading plant at Parachute Creek, Colo. This saved $25 million vs. constructing a grassroots hydrotreater.
In addition to the new units at the refineries, Unocal performed a number of modifications to improve performance of products blending, Unicracking, fluid catalytic cracking, and alkylation units. It also implemented new electrical power distribution projects.
The clean fuels projects coincided with a major turnaround during February-March 1995.
The RFG program has boosted combined gasoline yield at the two refineries to a record 120,000 b/d in second half 1995 from an average 115,000 b/d in 1994. Production of jet fuel and diesel at the two plants jumped to a combined 72,000 b/d in second half 1995 from 56,000 b/d in 1994.
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