Honeywell technology to drive Iraq's most advanced refinery

Honeywell has announced that it will provide industry-leading process technology and advanced automation controls to Iraq’s Karbala refinery, now under construction in Karbala Province, about 120 km south of Baghdad.

The grassroots refinery will use refining processes from Honeywell UOP and automation controls from Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) to allow Iraq’s State Company of Oil Projects (SCOP) Karbala refinery to maximise production of fuel and other products that will help offset the more than 350,000 barrels per day of refined products the country currently imports. These technologies will also help meet growing domestic demand, with products meeting international standards equivalent to Euro V fuel standards. Start-up of the 140,000 barrel-per-day refinery is expected in 2020.

“The Honeywell solution combines UOP’s deep process knowledge with HPS’s expertise in plant automation to make the refinery run at the top of its capability,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Process Technology and Equipment business. “The integration of process technology with a controls solution enables the Karbala refinery to make more gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and asphalt, and make it more efficiently.”

“Honeywell has a great track record of successful projects implemented in Iraq,” said Pieter Krynauw, vice president and general manager of HPS’s Projects and Automation Solutions business. “When we combine UOP process technology with the HPS automation and controls, refineries will be able to reach peak performance faster and lower the total cost of ownership while getting the best return of investment for the project life cycle.”

Honeywell technologies licensed for the Karbala refinery include the UOP Penex process to upgrade light naphtha feedstock to produce isomerate, a cleaner gasoline blendstock that does not contain benzene, aromatics or olefins; and the UOP fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process to convert heavy feedstocks recovered from other refinery operations into high-octane gasoline.

The UOP CCR Platforming process will be used to convert low-quality naphtha into high-octane blending components for gasoline; the UOP Unionfining process will improve the quality of distillate boiling-range feedstocks to help meet tougher product specifications; and the UOP Chlorsorb process will be used to help meet stringent waste gas specifications.

The Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) will be at the heart of the Integrated Control and Safety Systems (ICSS), and Safety Manager will be used to integrate process safety data, applications, system diagnostics and critical control strategies in order to execute defined safety applications in a fully redundant architecture.

Fire and gas safety systems, which include SIL3 certified safety systems connected to fire detectors, fire alarm panels, fire suppression systems, gas detectors, sounders and beacons, will also be provided, along with UniSim training simulators, to provide a structured program for developing operator competency.