Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) announced today that Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd. (PARCO) will use technologies from Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.com) and Honeywell Process Solutions to upgrade its Mid-Country Refinery near Multan, Pakistan, enabling it to meet growing domestic demand for cleaner-burning fuels.
The project’s Honeywell solutions will include licensing, basic engineering design and other associated services for a modular Penex isomerization unit, which will help make cleaner-burning high-octane gasoline, and a modular Polybed pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) system, which will provide a reliable source of high-purity hydrogen. In addition, the project will include automation and controls from Honeywell Process Solutions.
“These Honeywell technologies will address the increasingly urgent need for low-emission transportation fuels under the Pakistani government’s tightening environmental regulations,” says Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “PARCO chose to have these technologies delivered as modular equipment rather than in-field construction for faster startup, higher quality and better unit performance.”
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.
The Polybed PSA process uses proprietary Honeywell UOP adsorbents to remove impurities at high pressure from hydrogen-containing process streams, allowing hydrogen to be recovered and upgraded to more than 99.9% purity to meet refining needs. In addition to recovering and purifying hydrogen from steam reformers and refinery off-gases, the Polybed PSA system can be used to produce hydrogen from other sources such as ethylene off-gas, methanol off-gas and partial-oxidation synthesis gas.
The facility also will use Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS), which uses a unified automation system and advanced software applications to increase operator productivity and profitability.
PARCO chose Honeywell’s technology due to its long record of experience with the company, its proven record of success in Pakistan and its modularization capability for rapid project implementation.
Pak-Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO) is a joint venture between the Government of Pakistan, which holds 60% of the venture, and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, whose 40% share is held through the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Investment Company L.L.C. (ADPI), a subsidiary group of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC).
PARCO’s major business activities include crude oil refining and transportation, storage and marketing of petroleum products. PARCO, through its own marketing as well as through a joint venture company with Total, is the strategic fuel supplier for Pakistan, and includes Pakistan’s largest refinery, a 2,000-km cross-country pipeline network. The network includes PARCO’s subsidiary PAPCO, a joint venture company of PARCO; Shell; PSO; and Total PARCO Marketing Limited (TPML).