Petroleum Refining and Upgrading
Colt has developed long-standing relationships with ExxonMobil’s Imperial Oil, Petro-Canada, Shell Canada Limited, Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy, Inc. Working with these clients and others, such as Sunoco,
Valero, BP, Consumers’ Co-op, Holly Corporation, Husky Energy and Marathon Ashland, positions Colt as a leading provider of project and alliance services in the refining sector.
Project and Business Drivers
Our clients operate in an ever-changing environment. We have played a key role in preparing our clients for increased production from Alberta’s oil sands, greater product flexibility, environmental considerations, capacity expansions, future legislative considerations and competitive constraints and opportunities.
Major projects are underway to expand and construct new oil sands bitumen to synthetic crude upgraders in support of the major capital investments in the Athabasca oil sands reserves.
Expertise and Scope of Services
Colt is able to support our clients' long-term business needs by supplying process and project development support. Our project capability encompasses the entire life cycle, from conceptual process design through construction management. With over 50 years of combined experience, Colt has more expertise and is a leader in refinery alliances projects.
For major projects, Colt provides the full range of EPCM services from early studies through to detailed design, procurement, project management and construction of refining and upgrader facilities. We can also provide commissioning, start-up and post-start-up operations support for our clients.
Design Applications
Colt has established itself as an organization well positioned to meet a wide list of design challenges:
- Multi-discipline EPCM and project management services
- Process design and engineering for all refinery units including crude and vacuum, hydrotreating and hydrocracking, catalytic cracking, coker, gas recovery, catalytic reforming, alkylation, hydrogen facilities, lube oil extraction, dewaxing, deasphalting and sour gas processing, utilities and offsites
- Environmental studies, assessment support and design
- Application of industry-leading value improvement processes
- Refinery/upgrader planning and bottom-of-the-barrel recovery
- Economic modelling and analysis
- Regulatory approval assistance services and legislation readiness
- Owner’s engineer and third-party developer business arrangements
- Plant turnaround, safety audits, code QC and inspection services
- Project development, process optimization, configuration and feasibility studies, energy conservation and optimization
- Control system automation, including complete in-house staging
- PHA, HAZOP, flare mitigation and design, risk assessment, safety integrity levels and safety instrumented systems
Typical Experience
Refinery Oil Sands Integration and ULSD Revamp
Colt performed the initial feasibility study, developed the DBM, EDS and detailed engineering on this major
$420 million+ project. During the feasibility study phase, Colt worked with the client to develop the overall project scope and capital cost estimates, performing screening studies and selecting technologies for hydrotreating, hydrocracking, sulphur and tail gas units. Areas of work included:
1. Crude and Vacuum Unit
The revamp will allow the current capacity of total crude blend to increase. The new design addresses the impact of high sulphur and high acid content of the sour oil sands blend on the existing unit metallurgy and
recommends metallurgy changes to process the new crude.
2. Hydrocracker Unit
The existing hydrocracker is a once-through design. Colt scope included the technology selection with the licensor designing the reactor section and Colt designing the fractionation section.
3. Utilities and Offsites
This revamp included modifications to storage facilities, pumping stations, sour water stripper and amine facilities, and Honeywell PKS DCS upgrade for revamp and grassroots portions.
Refinery FCCU Upgrade
Colt developed the design basis memorandum (FEL 2) and basic engineering package (FEL 3). The scope of the project included a new S-Zorb unit, SO2 recovery process (CANSOLV) modifications to two FCCU gas plants, distillate desulphurizing unit, sulphur plant and various utilities.
For the first FCCU, Colt developed the design for 30 PPM. For the second FCCU, Colt developed a HYSYS simulation for the fractionator and gas plant. This included reconciling the simulation against test-run data and benchmarking to establish a base case.
This project was an extensive revamp involving the replacement of much of the existing equipment. The project impacted the plant’s FCCU, the gas plant, crude unit and distillate desulphurization unit.
An innovative approach was used to minimize turnaround hours and their effect on operations. Integrating team members including engineering, construction planning and operations furthered the project’s success. 3D computer models were used to facilitate constructability reviews and minimize field rework.
FCCU Reactor and Fractionation Upgrade (Basic and Detailed Engineering)
Scope of work included process engineering leadership, which included the replacement of the existing reactor internals (reactor riser termination device, cyclones and stripper section) with new proprietary design equipment. The fractionation system was modified to accommodate a higher throughput and greater variability in gasoline end point. Over 50% of the main fractionator’s internals were modified to include high-capacity structured packing and grid in the heat recovery zones. The overall system heat integration was improved by adding a feed/slurry and
boiler feed water/LCO heat exchangers. Additional heat exchangers were upgraded or replaced to add heat removal capacity as required. A quench stream was added to reduce the coking tendency in the fractionator bottoms liquid pool.
Process support included simulation (PROII), equipment rating (pumps, heat exchangers, compressors and tower internals) hydraulic calculations, control strategy development and instrument specifications.