June 16, 2008 - "LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas Selects Axens’ Hydrocrackers for Upgrader"
LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas AD, a subsidiary of the Russian oil major LUKOIL, has selected Axens to design and license technologies to convert Urals blend vacuum residue and gasoil (VGO) at its 165,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Burgas, Bulgaria.
The heavy-ends upgrader combines a 47,000 bpd (2.5 million metric tons per year, MMTPA) H-Oil®RC ebullated-bed vacuum residue hydrocracker and a 37,000 bpd (1.8 MMTPA) HyK™ single-stage high-conversion hydrocracker to produce a high quality slate of distillate products. The feed for the HyK unit will be a 50/50 mixture of straight run and H-Oil produced VGOs. The H-OilRC equipped with Axens’ inter-stage separation (IS²) and HyK units will be integrated through a common hydrogen management scheme that minimizes capital investment while enabling the independent operation of the two units. The H-OilRC unit will also benefit from cascade catalyst utilization (C²U) that minimizes operating costs and maximizes unit profitability. The upgrader is scheduled to come on stream in 2012.
This will be the third H-Oil upgrader in Europe to operate on Urals blend and the first to integrate HyK technology. The 34,000 bpd (1.8 MMTPA) PKN-Orlen unit in Płock, Poland has been operating for nearly ten years and has recently started up a Prime-D unit integrated with the H-OilRC. The 60,000 bpd (3.0 MMTPA) Mozyr unit was licensed in 2006 and also features an integrated Prime-D unit.
LUKOIL Neftochim Burgas AD The Burgas refinery , in Burgas, Bulgaria, is the largest oil refinery in the Balkan region. The refinery is associated with a petrochemical plant and produces fuels, petrochemicals and polymers. In 1999, Russian oil giant LUKOIL acquired 58% of the company. The complex has its own power station, pipeline system, port infrastructure, and R&D center. It employs more than 3000 persons.
