▪️’Every refinery does blending every day. This is science, it has no room for emotion or sensation,’ How top group of chemical engineers gave PH refinery clean bill of health
Highest body of chemical engineers in the country, the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers, has given the Port Harcourt Refinery a clean bill of health, declaring that the plant is running, contrary to claims made by critics about the facility.
National President of the Association, Mr Tony Ogbuigwe, who said this in an interview, declared that chemical engineers who are on the ground have confirmed that the installation is back in operations after over 20 years.
Stating that refining and refinery operations are science, Ogbuigwe, who added that every refinery does blending every day, declared that the process has no room for emotion or sensation.
He said: “The truth of the matter is that the Area 5 of the Port Harcourt Refinery is running and indeed running. The refinery has two parts; there is the old refinery and the new refinery.
“The old refinery is the one that has been brought back into operation and we can confirm that it is running. We have made contact with our professional colleagues – the chemical engineers who are on the ground, and they have confirmed that the refinery is indeed running.
“The products are being produced from the old refinery and those products are being blended to give the PMS that we consume in our cars and diesel oil, which we consume in trucks, and which some of us use in our generators. Kerosene is also being produced. That is the truth.
“In the refinery, things have to be brought up in stages and that is the same thing that is being done in Dangote Refinery. Crude oil comes into a refinery and goes into what is called the Crude Distillation Unit. There is the distillation in the colon and products come out from there at various levels.
“On the top, there is gas, which gives us the cooking gas. At the next level down, there is straight-run gasoline. There is the heavy-Naphtha level and then kerosene, diesel and fuel oil, which is from the bottom of the colon. These are the straight products that come from the colon but they go for further processing in different parts of the refinery.
“The heavy Naphtha goes into the Catalytic Reforming Unit, where it is then reformed into high octane stock. This is because the light Naphtha or straight-run gasoline, as some call it, is low octane and not meeting up with the specification of 1991, which is the standard for Petrol Motor Spirit PMS.
“So, what has happened is that the Area 5 was commissioned and the main colon, which is the Crude Distillation Unit, has been commissioned and running and producing these products.
However, the heavy Naphtha, which should go into the catalytic Reforming Unit, which is the next unit that would be brought on stream, is not yet on stream.
“Some people have been making statement in the media about a product called crack C5 coming from Eleme Petrochemicals and that is what they have been loading. The truth is that the Area 5, otherwise called the Old Port Harcourt Refinery, is producing light naphtha or straight-run gasoline. It is producing heavy naphtha. It is producing kerosene. It is producing light gas-oil, which goes out as diesel and it is also producing fuel oil. The light naphtha is blended with Crack C5 which is being obtained from Eleme Petrochemicals. And that is what is giving you your PMS.
“I am surprised people are saying loading has not taken place. Loading has actually taken place and trucks have been loaded and those trucks have gone out to go and supply the public.
“It is not PMS that is brought into the refinery but Crack C5, which is a high research octane, a product from the Eleme Petrochemical processes. It is high octane stock, which is then blended with the light naphtha, which is lower octane stock, to give you the 1991 specification for PMS.
“Every refinery does blending every day. In the refinery, we don’t produce the products you see outside there. We produce LPG, Light Naphtha, Heavy Naphtha, Kerosene, Light Gas Oil, Heavy.
Gas Oil, Atmospheric Residue. These things go into the storage camp in every refinery. Then, from those storage tanks, you then start blending for the public because all these things are not what the public consumes. The public consume PMS, which is a blend of light naphtha with high octane product like Crack C5. Every refinery does this.
“As far as I know, the refinery is running at about 60 to 70 per cent capacity right now but ramping up towards 90 per cent. Hopefully, when they ramp up to 90 per cent, there will be more products coming out.
“What I will really be looking forward to is the Catalytic Reforming Unit to be brought into operation as well, so that the Area 5 refinery can fully optimise the crude oil it is processing.”
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