Rule Particulate Control Environmental Considerations in Today’s Projects
Agenda ConocoPhillips Los Angeles Refinery Environmental Regulations What does an Environmental Department do ? General Project Considerations Case Study – Rule
Who is ConocoPhillips ? Large Integrated Oil Company Does business in over 40 countries Familiar brands – 76, Phillips 66, Conoco Sustainable Development –Ethical Standards –Environmental Improvements –Community –Energy
Los Angeles Refinery Mid-sized, about 140,000 bbls/day Worst Crude/Cleanest Products –Mostly cracking heavy material distillation –Distillation –Treating/removing impurities Start 1918, Runs 24/7 About 660 Employees One of 6 major refineries in South Coast
Environmental Regulations Clean Air Act Clean Water Act RCRA – Waste Emergency Release Regulations Toxic Regulations Multi-Agency Complex Regulations 3 rd -Party Intervention
What Does An Environmental Department Do ? Regulation expertise – air, water, waste Advocate on new legislation/regulation Help facility implement new regulations Obtain environmental permits Compliance assurance/continuous improvement management system approach Maintain reporting/recordkeeping Staff of 7 professionals, 6 air emphasis
General Project Considerations Safety – First Priority Environmental Considerations –Compliance, permitting, scope Community Impact Schedule (Timing with Outages) Quality – Will it work when done Cost – differentiate alternatives, cost as budgeted
Why Rule Project ? SCAQMD Regulation –Control solid particle emissions –Control ammonia (precursor) Impacts the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCu) Particulate limit, 30 lbs/hour to about 6 lbs/hour Ammonia, no limit to 10 ppm
What does an FCCu look like ?
Project History Rule passed 12/2003 Began meeting vendors and setting design parameters Determined early need for ‘pre-treatment’ –3 rd /4 th -stage separators Determined early need for schedule adjustment Installed 3 rd /4 th stage separators in November Performing Testing
New 3 rd -Stage Separator
New Flue Gas Train
Technology Choices Dry Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) Wet gas scrubber Wet gas scrubber/Wet ESP
ESP
SCRUBBER EEE NaOH / Na 2 CO 3 Effluent Process Water FCCU Off-Gas WESP Section Stack Absorber Section OxidationAir Sump
Safety Considerations All technologies selected can and have operated safely. –Dry ESPs in FCCu service (CO on start-up) –Wet ESPs ? –‘Batch’ mode operational factors ESPs Wet Solids handling
Community Impact Steam Plume for wet systems (aesthetics) –Perception vs. Reality –Environmental Justice Traffic –Construction –Operation Who is the community ?
Schedule Outages (turnarounds) approximately every 4 years –Tie-ins are possible Long lead equipment –Steel –Vessels Competing Orders Permitting
Quality Dry ESPs have most applications Wet ESPs have least Limits are pushing the edge of technology –Lack of vendor guarantees –Test method issues Transient Conditions (start-ups/upsets) Sparing Philosophy
Costs Capital Costs –Sparing Philosophy Operational Costs –Energy –Water/Waste Processing
Environmental Considerations Test method reliability –EPA vs. SCAQMD method Future regulation uncertainty –PM 2.5 ( ) –Secondary Pollutants (Precursors) NOx/SOx/NH3 –PM (New EPA effort, state ?)
Environmental Considerations Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) for NOx –Other regulations –Unit Expansion (Best available Control Technology) –Installation Temperature/energy considerations SO2 – SO3 conversion (dry vs. wet) Fouling Construction (leaving room)
Environmental Considerations SOx controls –Other regulations –FCCu expansion – What is BACT ? –Wet systems have a clear advantage
Environmental Considerations Wastewater treatment - Scrubbers –Purge for solids and chloride control –Removal for solids Settling/Filter Press (messy Operation) Allow settling in existing refinery sewer system – Sulfite (oxidation) Can POTW take it ? (test method) Adequate aeration in existing system ?
Environmental Considerations Electrical (ESP vs. Scrubber) –Offset by restarting power recover turbine ? Energy Profile (waste heat recovery) Permitting Complexity (12-18 months) –California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) –Agency experience with ESPs
Environmental Considerations 3 rd -Party Involvement FCCu Start-Up/Upset Considerations Plume Mitigation ?
Plume Mitigation
WHAT WOULD YOU DO ?