Barrancabermeja Refinery Introduces New Technology to Improve Fuel Quality
Ecopetrol took a further step in meeting its commitments to deliver fuels of the best international quality for Colombia. This is the technological update of the Sulfur IV plant at the Barrancabermeja refinery, which increases the removal of this element in the fuel treatment process.
Carlos Guillermo García, general manager of the Barrancabermeja refinery, explained that as Ecopetrol advances in its purpose of delivering diesel and gasoline with fewer parts per million of sulfur, it has been necessary to have a greater recovery capacity for residual gases eliminated in fuel hydrotreating processes in which sulfur is removed from diesel and gasoline.
The works allowed to increase by 75% the treatment capacity of the waste gases that are released from the fuel hydrotreatment process, going from 80,000 to more than 140,000 standard cubic feet per hour, and to increase the sulfur removal capacity by 82% at the Sulfur IV plant, going from 50 tons / day to 90 tons / day, for a total of 134 tons of sulfur / day.
The technological update of the Azufre IV plant consisted of the change of its main equipment such as the thermal reactor, the boiler and the burner, and the implementation of the licensed technology of medium enrichment with oxygen. In this way, the sulfur recovery capacity and the efficiency in the treatment of waste gases associated with the projects included in the fuel quality path were increased.
The works also give the refinery greater operational flexibility because from now on it will be able to keep the fuel hydrotreatment units in operation in the event that it is necessary to take other sulfur units that perform similar functions out of service, giving continuity to delivery commitments. of quality fuels.
The recovered sulfur is sold in liquid form to different clients who use it in industrial processes such as the production of sulfuric acid for batteries, the manufacture of gunpowder, the vulcanization of rubber, the manufacture of matches, fungicides, fertilizers and cosmetics, among others.
