Alkylation Unit at PDVSA's Willemstad Isla Refinery Unable to Remain Online

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The alkylation unit at the 325,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Willemstad Isla Refinery, owned by Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA, in Curacao was unable to stay online after its restart on May 23, 2008, because of a problem in its acid drum. PDVSA had restarted the 6,000 BBL/d unit after restarting the 55,000 BBL/d fluid catalytic cracker unit (FCCU). The units were offline for six weeks after a refinery-wide power outage.

The outage occurred as several units from the HDX Complex were reaching normal production rates after a 50-day planned maintenance shutdown. The turnaround involved eight units: naphtha hydrotreater, mild hydrocracker, lubes hydrotreatment, polymerization plant, platforming and diesel hydrotreatment. The reformer unit had to be shut down a week before the turnaround start date because of a boiler problem. For more details, view related April 10, 2008, article - Power Outage Forces All Units Offline at PDVSA's Willemstad Isla Refinery. By the time the second power outage occurred on April 14, 2008, the feed cracker 2, thermal cracker 2, CD3, CD2 B and HV7 units had already been restarted at minimum rates. For details, view related April 14, 2008, article - PDVSA's Willemstad Isla Refinery Experiencing Another Power Outage.

After several inspections, plant officials decided to keep the FCCU and the alkylation unit offline for six more weeks to solve major problems in the FCCU's air blower, which had to be dismounted and sent off-site for major repairs. For details, view related May 2, 2008, article - FCCU at PDVSA's Willemstad Isla Refinery to Remain Offline for Six Weeks.

After the FCCU was restarted, the feed cracker 1, CD2 A, LPG, alkylation and Merox units, which were kept offline along with the FCCU, were restarted on the same day. Because of the acid-drum problem, the alkylation unit will undergo maintenance and is expected to be ready by June 11. After it comes back online, the current de-rated FCCU, which is processing 46,500 BBL/d, will reach normal rates. Feed cracker 1 and feed cracker 2 are each processing 46,500 BBL/d. CD3 is processing 157,500 BBL/d, and CD2A and CD2B are processing 41,250 BBL/d each. Thermal cracker 1 has been processing slop products since May 30 and will continue to do so until June 9. Its four-week planned turnaround will begin on June 16. Once ready, it will be kept on standby. This unit will be restarted in October to replace thermal cracker 2 while it also undergoes a planned maintenance turnaround. SRU4 is undergoing a four-week planned turnaround. HV7 remains offline. All other processing units are online.

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