Veolia North America (Boston, Mass.; www.veolianorthamerica.com) has announced a significant investment for a new “debottlenecking” project at its Burnside, La., sulfur regeneration facility, which provides merchant sulfuric acid regeneration services to refineries and produces various sulfur-based products. The project investment will increase spent sulfuric acid regeneration capacity by 15% annually and will be completed during the plant’s Fall 2018 turnaround.
“This is an important step forward in growing our Regeneration Services capabilities,” said Veolia North America president and CEO William J. “Bill” DiCroce. “The debottlenecking project at Burnside will address some of the equipment, process and system design issues that limit our current capacity – and improve our overall market position and reliability. It will offer a real solution for refiners’ additional spent acid regeneration requirements, and demonstrates our lasting commitment to their business.”
Refiners today are pushing the current acid regeneration circuit to nearly 100% capacity, because of spiking demand for alkylate. Alkylate is the refining industry’s preferred gasoline additive, used to help achieve the fuel efficiency standards and low emission ratings demanded by regulators and consumers. By adding capacity through this expansion project, Veolia is taking the lead in supporting its customers’ growth requirements as well as positioning itself for further growth.
In the United States, there are approximately 100 refineries with alkylation units, which use either sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid as the production catalyst. Veolia offers regenerative solutions for both alkylation types, specifically potassium hydroxide (KOH) processing and sulfuric acid regeneration capabilities.