S-OIL completes clean gasoline-producing alkylation plant

abarrelfull wrote on 24 Oct 2013 13:42
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2009.09.02

S-OIL Corporation said on Sep. 2 that it completed its “alkylation project” and began to produce alkylate, feedstock for clean gasoline. S-OIL had pursued the project to improve gasoline quality and enhance profitability.

S-OIL invested a total of about 150 billion won for two years from Sep. 2007 to construct an alkylation plant on a 6,000m2 site at its Onsan refinery(location: Ulju-gun, Ulsan). The alkylation plant is a facility that is capable of producing 9,200 barrels per day of alkylate.

Alkylate, which is produced from the alkylation plant, has a low vapor pressure and a high octane number. In particular, alkylate is considered as an eco-friendly gasoline feedstock because it contains no noxious substances like sulfur, olefin, aromatic and benzene. Not only is alkylate used directly as premium gasoline, but it can also replace MTBE in the gasoline manufacturing process to improve the octane number and quality of gasoline.

An official at S-OIL said that the production of the eco-friendly gasoline feedstock would help the company actively cope with increasingly stringent environmental regulations on petroleum products both at home and abroad. “We’ve been entirely dependent on outside alkylate suppliers so far,” he added. “But with the completion of this alkylation plant, we can produce alkylate for our own use and sell any remaining alkylate to other companies. So, profitability is expected to increase by 100 billion won.”

S-OIL has achieved world-class competitiveness and profitability in the oil refining business thanks to its continuous investment in high-value-added facilities since the 1990s. By the the completion of the alkylation project, it is expected that increasing the capability to supply eco-friendly gasoline that is high in quality will contribute to enhance the Company’s competitiveness in both the domestic and international oil market.

• S-OIL completes clean gasoline-producing alkylation plant

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