Recope to Convert Puerto Limon's Kerosene Hydrotreatment Unit to Process Diesel Fuel

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Puerto Limon refinery, owned by Costa Rica's state-owned oil company Recope, is planning to convert its kerosene hydrotreatment unit into a diesel processing unit.

Only the topping and gas concentration units are currently online at the Costa Rican refinery. The 1,200-barrel-per-day platforming unit has had its catalyst regenerated and was scheduled to be back online July 20. The offline naphtha hydrotreater unit is to be restarted once the platforming unit is operating successfully again.

The asphalt vacuum unit, which has been offline since late December 2007, was restarted for two weeks in June 2008. The unit was shut down again due to issues involving market prices and remains offline. The visbreaker unit has been offline since May of this year because of problems with its furnace. Recope is replacing damaged equipment with new equipment in order to get the unit back online and running with increased efficiency. The stack and furnace walls of the unit will be changed, and Recope will perform other maintenance and cleaning of the unit. The kerosene hydrotreatment unit will remain offline until late September 2008, when it will be restarted to verify if it is capable of processing without inconveniences. By the beginning of December 2008 the unit will be shut down again in order to implement the necessary changes to begin processing as a diesel hydrotreatment unit by February 2009. Recope itself will be in charge of performing the unit's changes.

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