The Refinars Project

The aim of the Refinars Project is to demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative technology for the desulphurisation of exhaust flue gases. The technology is based on the use of a regenerating absorbing solution (patented as Belco/Labsorb) that makes it possible to recover the sulphur contained in exhaust flue gases. A number of economic, industrial and environmental objectives are offshoots of the main aim, and these include:

• SO2 emissions of around 1/3 of those currently prescribed by law;
• Zero impact on the soil, given that waste residue production is negligible;
• Zero impact from the transport of residue generated by absorption process;
• Very limited impact on water, given that sulphates and  sulphites generated by the absorption of SO2 are not dumped;
• cost savings in energy and the reagents used for absorption, compared with  existing BAT (Best Available Techniques).

The first four points mean that there is a lower overall environmental impact compared with the best existing technologies used for the desulphurisation of exhaust flue gases.

The Project

In line with European Union environmental policies, a new process was installed at the Sannazzaro refinery for the regeneration of the absorbing solution used to clean flue gases from the regenerator of the FCC unit.
For the realisation of the project Eni received a contribution from the  EU’s LIFE fund, a which provides financial  support for sustainable development and the development and implementation of the EU environmental policy.

Description

The project has made it possible to optimise the performance of a process for the regeneration of the cleaning solution for exhaust flue gases coming from the regeneration of the catalyser in the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) plant. This is a widespread and irreplaceable process in the refining of crude oil, which allows for the transformation of heavy products from primary refining in a vacuum into high value-added products with a low boiling point, such as high octane fuel or base products for petrochemicals. Data has been collected to compare the results with BAT (Best Available Techniques) in the sector, defined in the sector’s  BREF (Best Reference For) by the IPTS in Seville.

Tests were conducted at the refinery using the FCC plant and the exhaust flue gas cleaning tower. A regeneration plant was specially built for the absorbing solution. All appropriate chemical and environmental analyses were conducted during the tests and, at the end of the test period, a complete series of economic and technical measures were made against the sector’s applicable BAT, as well as an analysis of the overall environmental impact.

The project has a potential impact on 53 cracking plants and 66 sulphur recovery plants located across the EU. However, it could also be adopted in other industrial sectors with similar problems (the metallurgical industry, the production of sulphuric acid).