Bio Bio Refinery's Important processing Units Coming Online after Maintenance Shutdown

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Bio Bio refinery, owned by Chile's state-owned oil company Enap, has finished a planned maintenance turnaround on the topping 1 and vacuum 1 units. The units were restarted on May 17, 2008. The fluid catalytic cracker unit was still undergoing maintenance and is expected to be restarted today, May 20, 2008.

Enap has three refineries in the country: Aconcagua, Gregorio and Bio Bio. The latter has a total production capacity of 113,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) and four divisions within the refinery: ethylene, south, north and the delayed coker. The 3,200-cubic-meter-per-day FCCU, located within the south area with the continuous catalytic reformer (CCR) and Merox, was derated during the first week of February to lower its acid gas emissions and has since been producing 2,700 cubic meters per day. The 2,200-cubic-meter-per-day delayed coker, which is located within the coker division, was also derated and is producing 1,800 cubic meters per day.

A planned turnaround in the FCCU, topping 1 and vacuum 1 is scheduled to be carried in April 2008; however, the set date for this turnaround may vary because of internal consumption rates. Partial maintenance work in the delayed coker will be carried out in April to change damaged furnace tubes. During this turnaround, sulfur recovery units 1 and 2 will be derated, as well, to undergo minor maintenance work. For more details, view related February 18, 2008, article - FCCU, Delayed Coker at Chile's Bio Bio Refinery Running at Reduced Rates.

Maintenance work in the compressor of the CCR was performed during the last week of April 2008. The unit was offline for six days and came back online on May 2, 2008. It is currently processing at normal rates. Partial maintenance work in the Delayed Coker has been completed. The unit is still derated, though, processing 1,000 cubic meters per day. It was expected to start processing at normal rates of 1,900 cubic meters per day by May 18, 2008. The furnace tubes of the unit's other section will not be changed this month; plant authorities have decided to wait three months in order to work in the other section. Until then, the Delayed Coker will remain processing at normal rates. SRU 1 & 2, MDEA 1 & 2, HDT and sour water treatment 2 (SWC 3), which remained derated while partial maintenance work in the delayed coker was performed, are currently processing at normal rates. The visbreaker was shutdown on May 4, 2008, for decoking. It is currently being restarted. All of Bio Bio refinery's processing unit, except for the Delayed Coker, Topping 1, Vacuum 1, FCCU and Visbreaker, are running at normal rates.

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