MOSCOW (MRC) -- Thai Oil Public Company Limited (Thaioil) has signed an agreement for Topsoe’s SNOX solution to efficiently remove sulfur and nitrogen oxides and dust emissions from their Sriracha Refinery in the Chonburi province in the east of Thailand, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
This is part of Thaioil’s 5-billion-dollar Clean Fuel Project to produce cleaner transport fuels in a more environmentally friendly way. The project is expected to boost capacity from 275,000 to 400,000 barrels per day - while improving energy efficiency and the impact on the environment.
The agreement comprises proprietary equipment and catalyst supply for Haldor Topsoe's air quality control technology SNOX. This initiative to secure compliance with air emission regulations for a new energy recovery unit at the Sriracha Refinery is part of Thaioil’s Clean Fuel Project.
The Sriracha Refinery’s new energy recovery unit will use three parallel SNOX lines to remove sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and dust from the new circulating fluidized bed boilers. Sulfur is recovered as commercial grade concentrated sulfuric acid and the nitrogen oxides are reduced to free nitrogen.
The SNOX process includes energy recovery by recycling of surplus heat to reduce energy consumption in the boilers. Another benefit of using SNOX in a refinery is that it can also handle additional sulfurous waste streams such as H2S gas, sour water stripper gas and Claus tail gas.
Thaioil has also chosen other Topsoe technologies and licenses for its new and environmentally friendly Sriracha Refinery, including hydrotreater.
We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC), another major petrochemical producer in Thailand, fully restarted its No. 2 cracker in Map Ta Phut in early March, 2020, after a planned turnaround. The company started resuming operations at the cracker by end-February, 2020. The cracker was shut for maintenance on January 20, 2020. Located at Map Ta Phut, Thailand, the No. 2 cracker has an ethylene production capacity of 400,000 mt/year.
The company also operates No. 1 cracker at the same site with a capacity of 515,000 tonnes of ethylene and 310,000 tonnes of propylene per year, which was also shut on 23 January, 2020, for a 40-day turnaround.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, estimated PE consumption totalled 383,760 tonnes in the first two month of 2020, up by 14% year on year. High density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) shipments increased due to the increased capacity utilisation at ZapSibNeftekhim. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 192,760 tonnes in January-February 2020, down by 6% year on year. Homopolymer PP accounted for the main decrease in imports.
MRC