08-05-2018

Sonatrach to produce Euro V fuels with technologies from Honeywell UOP

Honeywell announced today that Sonatrach will use technologies from Honeywell UOP to expand the Skikda Refinery on the eastern Mediterranean coast of Algeria. The new technologies will enable Sonatrach to meet growing domestic demand for high-octane gasoline and diesel fuel that meets Euro V standards for cleaner-burning fuels.

Honeywell will provide licensing, basic engineering design and other associated services for an 81,000 barrels-per-day UOP Unicracking™ unit and UOP/Foster Wheeler solvent deasphalting unit to produce ultra-low sulfur diesel. In addition, Honeywell will provide CCR Platforming™ and Penex™ isomerization units to convert 143,000 barrels per day of naphtha into cleaner-burning high-octane gasoline.

“These Honeywell technologies will enable Sonatrach to upgrade low-value feedstocks by efficiently converting them into Euro V diesel,” said John Gugel, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “Sonatrach also will use an integrated Platforming and Penex process to produce high-octane gasoline without having to produce or import additives such as MTBE.”

The 24,100-barrels-per-day solvent deasphalting unit will produce deasphalted oil in addition to resin and pitch, which will be used to produce different grades of bitumen, the base material for asphalt and roofing materials.

The Penex process is the highest-performing isomerization option available today. It upgrades light naphtha to produce isomerate, a cleaner gasoline blend-stock that contains no benzene, aromatics or olefins. The process uses Honeywell UOP’s portfolio of proven, high-activity isomerization and benzene saturation catalysts.

Since it was introduced in 1964, the Unicracking process has advanced due to more effective catalysts, unit design and reactor internals. Today’s Unicracking process produces higher yields of transportation fuels that adhere to new emissions regulations from a wider range of feedstocks than has been possible previously. Honeywell UOP has licensed more than 200 Unicracking units in more than 40 countries.

The CCR Platforming process produces reformate for high-octane, low-sulfur gasoline and aromatics, and is a reliable, continuous source of high-purity hydrogen for the production of other fuel products. Since it was first introduced in 1971, more than 250 CCR Platforming units have been commissioned worldwide.

Sonatrach is the largest company in Algeria, employing 120,000 people and accounting for almost one-third of Algeria’s gross national product. Sonatrach operates the Hassi Messaoud oil field, the largest in Algeria, in addition to several other fields.