Esmeraldas Refinery To Undergo Maintenance Work

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(Energy Analytics Institute, 24.Nov.2020) — EP PetroEcuador general manager Ricardo Merino supervised scheduled maintenance work at the non-catalytic units 2 and 3 of the Esmeraldas Refinery.

Work on the units will take around 47 days, PetroEcuador announced 24 November 2020 in an official statement.

Work on the units will include maintenance and repair of the static, rotating, and electrical equipment. Additional work will be performed to the heavy naphtha hydrotreater, catalytic reformer, regeneration loop and diesel hydrodesulfurizer (HDS).

Diesel obtained from the crude units is subjected to the hydrotreatment process in the HDS unit, which produces a fuel with low sulfur content (less than 0.05% weight) and free of nitrogen compounds. With this process, the diesel produced by Esmeraldas Refinery satisfies the restrictions implied in INEN 1489.

With the change of catalyst unit and maintenance of the HDS unit, PetroEcuador aims to guarantee production and an improvement in the quality of its premium diesel with a content of less than 350 ppm of sulfur, that is, 30% less content than required by the INEN1489 standard.

Scheduled maintenance will also include changing the HDT unit’s catalyst, which guarantees low sulfur content in the reformed and heavy naphthas used to produce gasoline.

With improvement in the quality of premium diesel and reduction in the sulfur content, Ecuador would comply with the EURO III regulation, Merino said.

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By Piero Stewart. © Energy Analytics Institute (EAI). All Rights Reserved.

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