It is a common practice that chemical processes are treated first in a pilot plant and then implemented in the main plants. This is specially important for Oil and Gas refining processes. My question is: Does any researcher know about the refining pilot plants owned and operated by an oil company worldwide?
Pilot plants are used in the chemicals industry when a new process is being developed. They help work out scaleup issues such as process control and yield. A pilot plant would not be used for a process that has already been developed, such as a polyethylene plant. For refining, an oil and gas refinery would only use a pilot plant if they were attempting to add a new process to a refinery. Since almost all refineries are built using defined procedures (similar to that polyethylene plant), you will not find many refineries that need to have pilot plants as part of their operations.
Dear Stephen
Thanks a lot for your answer. I think there should be some oil/gas refining pilot plants to evaluate the emerging issues, e.g. replacing the amine solution in a gas absorption process with a new amine generation. Also, they can be used to test the process performance when a new feed with unique characteristics such as high H2S content, is to be processed. Based on these, I'd like to know which companies hold a refining pilot plant worldwide
I appreciate receiving any information/document
I cannot rule out the possibility that some refineries around the world could have pilot plants or side streams for the uses that you mention. However, the refineries have the experience with a wide variety of crudes with complicating factors such as higher H2S, high TAN and the "newer" heavy crudes. The refineries with the materials of construction to handle these more difficult crudes usually have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
They also rely heavily upon the solvent suppliers for evaluation data for new dehydration or sweetening chemicals. The only area where you might find a facility between a benchtop and a chemical company scale pilot plant might be a facility to evaluate the performance of new catalysts and these would typically be at the company's research facilities and not the refinery.
Dear Professors,
I think there are lots of oil companies who own pilot plants.Generally, two groups do: the big oil companies who provide plant licenses (such as Eni), and also research and developer companies who sell developed new technologies and engineering service to Licenser companies and old oil PRODUCTION companies who their licenser's duration of contract has been finished, respectively (such as Zeton). They need pilot plants for research and development applications.
Rarely you can find a PRODUCTION oil company who own its pilot plant coz according to the international statutes in this business, they have bought the license from a licenser company mostly with a complicated contract, and they are not allowed to change the process significantly by themselves, and in strong problem shooting cases the licenser is responsible to any re-design and its implementation in duration of contract. So, the PRODUCTION companies don't need to a pilot plant which is expensive. But in some cases, the buyer persist licenser in duplicating its pilot units in the site for probable future R&D applications.
For an example of pilot unit, I can mention to the following case which I considered in my study due to application of a membrane technology to produce LPG from NG:
- The SANNAZZARO refinery which is located in the Turin-Milan-Genoa industrial triangle, in Italy's Po Valley. The facility, which is owned by Eni, has a refining capacity of 180,000 barrels per day. In 2001, Eni (licenser and owner!) opened a pilot plant to convert natural gas into liquid hydrocarbons using advanced conversion technology in partnership with IFP.
As you know, pilot units are mostly for a specific operation unit not for whole of a huge refinery plant. Please see the following links and attached files.
Thanks for sharing this question.
Regards,
http://www.zeton.com/site/oil-gas/pictures.html
http://www.intertek.com/testing/pilot-plant/
http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/contractors/environment/besix/besix5.html
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