MOVING FORWARD
Synenco Energy signs collaboration agreements for Northern Lights upgrader
Synenco Energy has announced it will save time and money on its yet-to-be
approved Northern Lights project by upgrading its feedstock into a single,
synthetic crude product. The company recently signed an agreement with
Honeywell company UOP LLC to license a pair of the latter’s technologies.
“UOP’s hydroprocessing technology
employs the same processes used on
similar feedstocks, except in an integrated unit,” says Tara Schauerte, a
spokeswoman with Synenco. “It
increases the flexibility of our products
and also allows us to produce a
lighter diluent for the transportation
of bitumen.”
Ken Hicks, vice-president of downstream operations with Synenco, lauds
UOP’s “innovative approach to hydroprocessing as an upgrading technology.”
The Unicracking process maximizes
yield by employing a catalyst system that’s
“capable of converting deasphalted oil
(DAO), at high conversion levels, into distillate fuels,” says Mike Wilson, Agrium
Inc.’s president and chief executive officer.
“There are only two hydrocrackers in
the world that process significant quantities of DAO in their feed while running at high conversion, and both of
these units use UOP catalyst systems.
This catalyst gives higher distillate yield
than any other hydrocracking catalyst
on the market today.”
The Unionfining
process removes
contaminants
from heavy feedstocks, like DAO.
Wilson says that
by using its
“proprietary operating philosophy,” UOP
is able to absorb more pounds of metals
for a given catalyst volume.
Wilson says that UOP’s processes will
give Northern Lights the flexibility to
adjust operation and generate a premi-um-quality synthetic crude product,
should Synenco and its partner
SinoCanada Petroleum Corporation
desire.
Schauerte says Synenco entered into
the partnership because UOP “
demonstrated an innovative approach, and [has]
proven experience in hydroprocessing
that the Northern Lights project was
looking for,” adding that the agreement
with UOP won’t require any out-of-the-ordinary infrastructure.
The Northern Lights project includes a
mining and bitumen extraction opera-
tion north of Fort McMurray,
and an upgrader in
Sturgeon County.
Pending approvals, con-
struction is slated for
2008, and project com-
pletion for 2010. The
company submitted an
application to the
Alberta Energy and
Utilities Board in June
for the mining
Synenco’s upgrader is planned for
Alberta’s Industrial Heartland,
like the Scotford upgrader
shown here.
