In the early part of 2000, Raffineria Di Milazzo S.p.A. (a joint venture between Agip Petroli and Kuwait Petroleum), decided to award two contracts, together worth about $34 million, for its refinery in Milazzo, Sicily.
The plant was originally purely an Agip facility, and has been in place for many years. The new project is an addition to the already extensive range of equipment installed at the refinery.
Recommended White Papers
Recommended Buyers Guides
The overall project has two main contracts both of which were awarded to Technip, a company with longstanding experience of the Italian market. The first contract concerns the construction of a new hydrodesulfurisation unit and the second concerns the upgrading of the existing vacuum distillation unit.
THE HYDRODESULFURISATION UNIT
The hydrodesulfurisation unit project includes a new 6,800 tons/day gas oil hydrodesulfurisation unit as its most prominent element. the new unit is based on high-pressure technology. This lead contract also encompasses the upgrading of an amine unit and the development of a distributed control system that interconnects the refinery.
CRUDE VACUUM DISTILLATION UNIT
The existing crude vacuum distillation unit is being upgraded in order to reduce sulphur content in emissions.
Removing sulphur is an important part of refining, not only because of its value as a product in itself but also because recent environmental legislation means that European and North American countries are actively promoting low sulphur fuels. The EU has recently introduced new standards for desulphurised gasoil which the Milazzo changes are designed to meet. The Raffineria Di Milazzo is further concerned with its own sulphurous emissions, hence the second lead contract.
The lump sum turnkey contracts, which will be handled by Technip teams based in Rome, cover detailed engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning and training for the projects. Work is scheduled to be completed in spring 2001.
LIQUID PETROLEUM GAS (LPG) STORAGE PLANT
In 2000, the refinery saw another incremental addition as it gained an LPG storage plant. The lead contractor for this small project was Snamprogetti. The technology for the safety system was supplied by ICS Triplex, which installed its Trusted brand of triple modular redundant (TMR) systems. This is designed to provide both Emergency Shut Down (ESD) and Fire & Gas (F&G) detection from one system.
At Milazzo the ESD/F&G system is connected to a 600i/o Distributed Control System (DCS) and to the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), which was also installed by ICS Triplex. The control cabinets for all three systems are located in a ‘technical room’ and they communicate via a co-axial cable network with the remote main control room located 600 metres away as a safety precaution.
The safety system also communicates to the refinery fire station, over a kilometre away, where it drives a mimic panel so that fire-fighters have an up to the minute view of the plant’s safety status.
