Irving Oil Successfully Commissions $100 million Benzene-Reduction Unit
Release Date: July 05, 2011
SAINT JOHN, NB — Irving Oil is announcing its Dehexanizer Unit at the refinery is now operational. The unit is expected to reduce benzene content in gasoline produced by the refinery by 30 per cent. The $100 million Dehexanizer Unit will ensure compliance with new US EPA regulation requiring lower benzene in gasoline.
The Dehexanizer Unit includes a 185’ distillation column that isolates benzene in the upper stream of the column. The upper stream containing benzene will be sent to another existing unit for further reduction.
Construction of the unit began in 2009, with a peak labour force of 250 people. Total workforce hours exceeded 500,000 without a single lost time injury. The success of this project, which came in under-budget and on-schedule, is testament to the skilled workers who contributed to this project.
“It’s a privilege to operate in our community and we take our environmental requirements very seriously,” says Mark Sherman, General Manager of the Irving Oil Refinery. “We are always striving to improve the environment in which we live and work, and the Dehexanizer Unit strengthens that commitment.”
Irving Oil is committed to continually enhancing the environmental performance of its operations through further investment and energy conservation projects. The company is constructing a $26 million Vapour Recovery Unit at Irving Oil’s East Saint John terminal, which is anticipated to reduce VOC emissions by 90 per cent when loading gasoline on to marine ships.
Other environmental initiatives at the refinery include capturing carbon dioxide through a partnership with Praxair and sulphur dioxide reduction technology that has reduced SO2 emissions at the refinery by more than 85 per cent over the last eight years. Irving Oil also conducts annual fugitive emissions and tank seal replacement programs to prevent and reduce VOC emissions.
About Irving Oil
Irving Oil was founded in 1924 and is a privately owned regional refining and marketing company with a history of long-term partnerships and relationships. Irving Oil’s refinery, the largest in Canada, exports over 80 per cent of its production to the US and accounts for 75 per cent of Canada’s gasoline exports to the US and 19 per cent of all US gasoline imports. In 2003, Irving Oil became the first oil company to receive a US Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Excellence Award, for its clean gasoline. For more information about Irving Oil, visit www.irvingoil.com
Media contact:
Sam Robinson
506.202.3191
samantha.robinson@irvingoil.com