PJSC Tatneft, Almetyevsk, Russia, has completed a 1-month turnaround of certain units at the more than 10-million tonnes/year refinery of subsidiary JSC Taneco’s multiphase integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Nizhnekamsk, 250 km from Tatarstan’s capital city of Kazan (OGJ Online, Sept. 17, 2020).
Initiated on Sept. 17 and slated to run to Oct. 15, the 4-week turnaround involving an overhaul of hydrocracking, hydrogen production, base oil production, and elemental sulfur production units was completed 7 days ahead of schedule due to efficient organization and preparation activities, Tatneft said on Oct. 26.
All units impacted by the scheduled maintenance event have now resumed normal operations and are producing Euro 5 and Euro 6-quality products, according to the operator.
Major projects completed during the turnaround included the following:
- Replacement of the hydrocracking unit’s reactor internals.
- Replacement of catalyst at four reactors and a reforming furnace.
- Cleaning, inspection, and testing of 196 vessels, 2 tanks, and 225 pipelines to ensure safe operation of the hydrocracking, hydrogen production, and base oil production units.
- Completion of pipeline tie-ins at the hydrocracking and hydrogen production units required for implementation of a second phase of construction as part of Tatneft’s modernization program—which aims to boost nameplate crude oil processing capacity at Nizhnekamsk to 14 million tpy—scheduled to be fully completed in 2023 (OGJ Online, June 3, 2020; Jan. 29, 2018).
- Upgrading works at the base oil production unit to enable production of base oil with a 6 cst viscosity.
- Cleaning of 35 vessels—including heat exchanger, column equipment, tanks, and air-coolers—at the elemental sulfur production unit.
- Replacement of a 200-m long, 630-mm diameter pipeline.
- Pneumatic testing of unidentified pipelines.
- Hydrotesting of unidentified heat-exchange equipment.
As originally planned, the turnaround also was to include unspecified maintenance at two compressor units of the refinery’s hydrocracking unit.
Tatneft completed a previous 3-week round of planned maintenance at the Nizhnekamsk refinery in early July (OGJ Online, July 9, 2020; June 11, 2020).
