In addition to processing crude oil into motor and heating fuels, refineries also produce gaseous fuels, synthesis gases, petrochemicals and feeds for lubricants production and asphalt.
The widespread use of fossil fuels has a huge impact on the environment. New guidelines and developments are targeted at reducing this effect. Stricter laws, for instance, stipulate cleaner production methods and products as well as lower emissions. Long-term market trends are increasingly pointing towards a shift in favour of middle distillates, which are obtained at the mid boiling range (150°C to 390°C) of crude oil refinery distillation and include products such as light heating oil or diesel fuel.
Globalization is also increasing the need to operate refineries as efficiently as possible. Industrial gases play a vital role in meeting these requirements. Hydrogen, for example, is essential for desulphurising petroleum products via hydrogenation (reaction of sulphur compounds with hydrogen), a process that prevents toxic sulphur dioxide emissions being released during combustion. High sulphur levels also inhibit a vehicle’s exhaust cleaning system as they interfere with the catalytic converter.
This procedure has been extremely effective in Santiago de Chile, for example, one of South America’s most polluted cities. The extremely high levels of air pollution are mainly attributable to the one million or so cars using the city’s roadways. The authorities have undertaken to significantly clean up the air in Santiago by 2011 in order to improve quality of life for the five million inhabitants. One of the key enablers of this initiative is the transition to low-sulphur fuels for road traffic.
ENAP Refinerías S. A., a subsidiary of the national Chilean oil company ENAP, operates all three refineries running in Chile. It supplies 85 percent of the total Chilean diesel and petrol market. ENAP concluded an agreement with Linde to construct a hydrogen plant at its largest refinery site near Santiago. Our Chilean subsidiary AGA S. A. is financing, constructing and operating the plant, which is the first on-site project of its kind in South America. ENAP is using the hydrogen supplied by Linde to produce low-sulphur diesel. Not only does low-sulphur diesel reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, it also enables the latest automobile exhaust cleaning systems.
