05-06-2012

Honeywell’s UOP hydrogen purification technology selected for clean fuel refining in Russia

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that it has been selected by Haldor Topsoe to provide technology to purify hydrogen from a steam reforming unit to be installed at the Antipinsky Refinery in Tyumen, Russia.

Honeywell’s UOP Polybed™ PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) System will recover and purify hydrogen to help the refinery meet the increasing need for clean transportation fuels such as diesel and gasoline.

“UOP’s hydrogen purification technology will allow the Antipinksy Refinery to meet today’s challenge of producing cleaner fuels more efficiently,” said Rebecca Liebert, vice president and general manager for gas processing and hydrogen at Honeywell’s UOP. “The impressive hydrogen recovery rates and proven reliability of our solution will help the refinery improve its profitability and ensure dependable operation.”

The new hydrogen unit, which is scheduled to start-up in 2013, is part of the refinery’s plan to increase its capacity of crude oil processing by as much as 7 million tons per year. It will also enable the production of fuel products that meet the European Union’s Euro-5 emission standards aimed at reducing emissions from light duty vehicles.

Refineries use hydrogen in the hydrocracking process to convert heavy oils to lighter, higher-value products such as transportation fuels. Hydrogen is also used in the hydrotreating process to remove contaminants and improve the quality of end products.  

To date, Honeywell’s UOP has provided more than 900 Polybed PSA Systems worldwide, including more than 390 units to purify hydrogen from steam reformers, such as at the Antipinsky Refinery. Honeywell’s UOP has provided Polybed™ PSA Systems for many Haldor Topsoe hydrogen plants around the world.

The Polybed PSA System is a skid-mounted, modular unit that comes complete with vessels, valve skid, adsorbents, control systems and embedded process technology. The process uses proprietary UOP adsorbents to adsorb impurities at high pressure from hydrogen-containing waste streams and subsequently reject them at low pressure. The system allows hydrogen to be recovered and upgraded to more than 99.9 percent purity to meet downstream processing requirements.

In addition to recovering and purifying hydrogen from steam reformers, Polybed PSA Systems can be used to produce hydrogen from other sources, including refinery off-gases, ethylene off-gas, methanol off-gas and partial oxidation/syngas.

For more information, please visit www.uop.com