San Antonio Refinery Moves into Final Phase of Construction on Three Units

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--After two years of construction, AGE Refining Incorporated (San Antonio, Texas) expects to bring three new units at the San Antonio Refinery into operation in March 2009 to significantly increase the facility's processing capability. A new 5,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) ultra-low-sulfur diesel hydrotreater, 4,500-BBL/d naphtha hydrotreater and 2,500-BBL/d semiregin fixed-bed reformer, each containing one reactor, will be added to the refinery. The new units will accompany an existing 13,500-BBL/d crude unit, 1,200-BBL/d continuous catalytic reformer and 1,200-BBL/d aromatic absorption unit.

Several companies were involved in the development and construction of the units. Middough Consulting Incorporated (Cleveland, Ohio) performed process engineering. H&K (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) handled mechanical engineering, and Rabalais (San Antonio, Texas) provided engineering and construction services for the electrical and instrumentation portion of project. The prime engineer and constructor selected to design and install the new units was Polaris (San Antonio).

Construction began in early spring 2007 but was halted later that year because of financial issues that caused the end of Polaris' involvement in the project. Through most of 2008, AGE was searching for a general contractor and awaiting final funding needed to move forward with this major expansion, which was essential in growing the refinery to enable AGE to become a more competitive player in today's market.

By the end of the year, Dynamic Industries (Alvin, Texas) was selected to complete construction of the new units. The three units are scheduled to be operational within the next few weeks.

AGE is already planning its next major expansion to occur in near future. While this current expansion will increase the refinery's overall processing capabilities, the next upgrade project planned will substantially increase overall crude capacity at the refinery up to 25,000 BBL/d. The project is still in early development, and preliminary design has begun by a recently selected engineering firm.

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