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Page 1 of 18 Environmental Improvement Plan Sohar Refinery Feb 2014
Page 1 of 18
Environmental Improvement Plan
Sohar Refinery
Feb 2014
•Background
The treatment of the waste water of the Refinery was
malfunctioning for a long period. Almost no purification
occurred and the water effluent quality was far away
from the standards. The water also emitted vapours
that caused strong odour.
Waste Water Treatment Plant Improvements
Page 2 of 18
WWTP – 2013 Projects
• Biological improvement (bio augmentation) by addition of special enzymesby KAM Biotechnology.
• Further cleaning and repairs of basins/equipment.• Replacing sand and gravel in Sand Filters.• Building of additional and more robust spent caustic treatment unit from in
order to have a 100% back-up system.• Replacing of gravel and activated carbon in Activated Carbon Filters.• Optimization of the primary units (API and DAF) by different chemicals
from different suppliers to select the best chemicals (on-going).
Page 3 of 18
WWTP – 2013 Projects
• More tight control of waste water production and draining from the refineryplants. Continuous operation surveillance and monitoring of the WWTP.
• Ensure the implementation of preventive maintenance and repairs of allequipment in the refinery that have direct influence to WWT operation.
• Preparation to implement Zero Discharge Policy: Plan is to send SRtreated effluent water from WWTP into Majis centralized treatment facility.
Page 4 of 18
WWTP – 2013 Results
• All parameters are within standard except ammonia.• Significant odour emissions reduction.
Parameters/p
pm2011
Nov
2012
Nov
2013
Feb
2014
Standards/p
pm
COD>1,50
0413 110 157 200
Oil & grease 31 12.5 8 6.5 15
TSS 83 31.7 8 36 30
Phenols 56 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1 0.002
Ammonia 128 57.2 96 29 1
Water
quality
from
WWTP
Water
quality into
WWTP
Page 5 of 18
•Background
For mitigating odours from SR, the primary area for
odour source has been the refinery Waste Water
Treatment Plant. However Hydrocarbon emissions in
other parts of the Refinery could also contribute to
odour. Orpic is taking various actions for controlling
odour emissions, generated from the refinery complex
starting with WWTP. Orpic continues to identify the
possible other sources of odour within the SR.
Odour Nuisance Reduction
Page 6 of 18
Odour Nuisance Reduction
• Installation of temporary spent caustic treatment unit.• Installation of deodorizing additive in basins of WWTP that emit gases in
December 2011.• Use of E-noses for odour detection in September 2012.• A project was launched to cover the WWTP basins, collect the gases and
treat the gases to remove odour components. The project was divided into3 phases. Phase-I is the coverage of the basins and has been completedin October 2012.
• Phase-II Odour control project of installing a ventilation system for someof the covered basins (API and DAF), completed and started up in August2013.
• An odour mapping study to identify all possible sources of odour within theSR was completed in July 2103. Sources other than the WWTP wereidentified, mainly vents of certain tanks and Oily Water sumps. Actions arebeing launched to equip all these sources with a system to collect thevapours.
• Installation of HC and H2S detectors at the impound basin November2013.
Page 7 of 18
Odour Nuisance Reduction
• Phase-III Odour control project of installing scrubber and/or thermaloxidation (RTO) system by end of 2014. The EPC contract tender wasfloated and several offers were received. Currently in process to evaluatethe offers and to select the EPC contractor. This last step will completelyavoid any odour coming from the WWTP.
• As part of the odour reduction program, Orpic assigned a number of itsengineers to work in shift along with the process Operators.
• Other initiative Orpic took to reduce odours is by launching the “Coin YourIdeas” campaign.
Page 8 of 18
Odour Nuisance Reduction
Results• Odour emissions and hydrocarbon releases from the Refinery have
decreased significantly, e-Nose readings show less frequent peaks ofemissions and also the intensity has decreased.
02 1 0 1
4
10
22 23
13
8
0
5
10
15
20
25
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Phone Calls Statistics (Complaints)
Page 9 of 18
Orpic hotline number:80077337
Date Phone call Validation
5/1/2014 One Not Valid
10/1/2014 One Valid
15/1/2014 One Not Valid
29/1/2014 One Not Valid
1/2/2014 One Not Valid
15/2/2014 One Not Valid
Sohar Refinery Flaring
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
2010 2011 2012 2013 YTD
TP
H
Sohar Refinery Flaring Long Term Trend
Average 多項式 (Average)
Projects:• A project was completed to connect the fuel gas system of the Refinery with
Aromatics Plant.• Continue to enhance chillers reliability and using both STG’s to produce
power.• A study has started to recover the remaining low pressure gas that still is
flared and that cannot be recovered by the means mentioned above.Results• Routine flaring rate has been reduced by more than 60% from average of
12.5 tons/hr to 4.5 tons/hr.
Page 10 of 18
Background
• As part of the original Refinery construction,
a Wet Gas Scrubber (WGS) was installed in
Sohar Refinery to reduce Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
gas emissions from the RFCC unit.
• Due to the changes in RFCC feed quality (higher sulphur
content) from the original design assumptions, Sohar Refinery
experienced higher Sulfur Dioxide emissions than design. Also
poor dispersion of the plume exiting from the WGS stack was an
issue.
SOx Emissions Reduction
Page 11 of 18
SOx Emissions Reduction
• Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Alstom was contracted fordebottlenecking the existing WGS. An EPC was awarded to Alstom toimplement the modifications and to retrofit. GTB awarded the contract (19M$) in September 2012.
• In October 2012, the packing material level in WGS increased to 100% as afirst short term step. Higher scrubbing efficiency and lower emissions wasobserved.
• On 20 February 2013, mobilization of manpower and lifting equipment startedonsite, to implement planned WGS modifications.
• On 11 March 2013, Fire incident occurred in the WGS Unit, resulting in majordamage to the entire equipment. On 20 March 2013, recovery plan started tore-build the damaged Wet Gas Scrubber, re-instate the sea water system andother utilities on a fast track.
Inlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Outlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Efficiency(%)
Outlet SO2(ppmv)
After packingvolume increasedfrom 70% to 100%
7,919 1,500 81 526
Page 12 of 18
SOx Emissions Reduction
• For a period of 2 months, the agreement was obtained from MECA/SEU tooperate the refinery without the WGS but meeting a SOx limit which wassimilar to the emissions that Orpic had in first half of 2012. Orpic has takenmeasures (use of imported low sulphur feedstock and use of DeSox catalyst)and was able to stay below the agreed limit.
• On 24 May 2013, the main parts of the Wet Gas Scrubber (Absorber Shell &Cone) were delivered to site, manufactured by local vendor.
• On 20 June 2013, Completion of mechanical works with a three seawaterbooster pumps arrangement.
• On 3 July 2013, Wet Gas Scrubber put incold circulation with two seawater boosterpumps. All systems were checked in detail.
• On 27 July 2013, Wet Gas Scrubber put inoperation with hot flue gases.
Page 13 of 18
SOx Emissions Reduction
• October 2013, the remaining external components (heater system of the fluegases coming from the WGS, fourth standby seawater booster pump) areinstalled.
ResultsInlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Outlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Efficiency(%)
Outlet SO2(ppmv)
After WGSRevamp
7,919 780 90 273
Page 14 of 18
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mg/Nm3
SO2 of WGS
SO2 Design SO2
SOx Emissions Reduction
• A further reduction is expected after the implementation of the Sohar RefineryImprovement Project (SRIP). As a results of the new Refinery units that willbe installed as part of the SRIP, the Sulfur in the RFCC feed will be loweredto 1.8 wt% which resulted in less SOx precursors. Also the amount of fluegases to be scrubbed will decrease. The impact on the WGS performance isthat the 350 mg/Nm3 will be met after start-up of New Units mid-2016.
Inlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Outlet SO2(mg/Nm3)
Efficiency (%)Outlet SO2
(ppmv)
After SRIP 5,016 350 93 122.8
Page 15 of 18
Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR)
Projects 2013:• An LDAR survey was conducted to all refinery units using best practices
LDAR and Infrared camera scan.
Result
Page 16 of 18
Waste Management
• Export more than 19,000 tons of RFCC spent catalyst from Al Bhatinahfacility and on-site.
• Construct on-site hazardous/non-hazardous waste storage facility.• Continue to find more outlets for different type of waste.
Page 17 of 18
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
ton
s
Sep-12
Oct-12
Nov-12
Dec-12
Jan-13
Feb-13
Mar-13
Apr-13
May-13
Jun-13
Jul-13
Aug-13
Sep-13
Oct-13
Nov-13
Dec-13
Jan-14
Feb-14
Accumulative tons 480 970 1,430 2,010 3,190 4,210 5,430 6,750 9,570 10,31 10,61 11,33 13,27 15,43 17,57 18,83 19,14 19,52
Accumulative tons
Waste Management
RFCC spent catalyst stored on-siteJanuary 2013, total of 8,600 tons.
No RFCC spent catalyst stored on-site Feb 2013.
Page 18 of 18
