PJSC LUKOIL has let multiple contracts to Honeywell UOP LLC to license technologies and provide equipment for new units to be added as part of a grassroots catalytic cracking complex to be built at subsidiary LLC LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez’s 13.1-million tonnes/year (tpy) refinery in Russia’s North Urals region, on the north bank of the Kama River (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2021).
As part of its scope of work under the Jan. 12 contracts, Honeywell UOP will deliver technology licensing, design services, key equipment, catalysts, and adsorbents for four processing units to be installed at the new FCC complex, which will equip the refinery to covert 1.8 million tpy of low-value vacuum gas oil into high-octane motor gasoline and polymer-grade propylene, the service provider and LUKOIL said.
A first phase of the project will include installation of a new UOP vacuum distillation unit and a UOP FCC unit to increase production of propylene and improve gasoline yields, according to Honeywell UOP.
Alongside addition of a UOP Merox unit to extract low-molecular weight mercaptans from gas and LPG streams, the project also will subsequently include installation of a UOP propylene recovery unit to allow for production of polymer-grade propylene that will be used as feedstock for the operator’s petrochemical production units, the companies said.
Part of LUKOIL’s ongoing program to upgrade and modernize its Russian refining system to ensure long-term competitiveness and improve production qualities, Perm’s new complex—scheduled for startup in 2026—previously garnered support from the Russian Ministry of Energy, which agreed to an incentive plan granting LUKOIL an investment premium to the refundable excise tax on crude oil until Jan. 1, 2031, to enable the project’s completion (OGJ Online, Sept. 9, 2021).
The Perm refinery currently has a catalytic cracking capacity of 9,300 b/d, according to the latest data available on the operator’s website.
