EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT
The overall objective of this project is the three phase development of an Early Entrance Coproduction Plant (EECP) which produces at least one product from at least two of the following three categories: (1) electric power (or heat), (2) fuels, and (3) chemicals using ChevronTexaco's proprietary gasification technology. The objective of Phase I is to determine the feasibility and define the concept for the EECP located at a specific site; develop a Research, Development, and Testing (RD&T) Plan to mitigate technical risks and barriers; and prepare a Preliminary Project Financing Plan. The objective of Phase II is to implement the work as outlined in the Phase I RD&T Plan to enhance the development and commercial acceptance of coproduction technology. The objective of Phase III is to develop an engineering design package and a financing and testing plan for an EECP located at a specific site. The project's intended result is to provide the necessary technical, economic, and environmental information needed by industry to move the EECP forward to detailed design, construction, and operation. The partners in this project are TES (a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco), General Electric (GE), Praxair, and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) in addition to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). TES is providing gasification technology and Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) technology developed by Rentech, GE is providing combustion turbine technology, Praxair is providing air separation technology, and KBR is providing engineering. Each of the EECP subsystems were assessed for technical risks and barriers. A plan was identified to mitigate the identified risks (Phase II RD&T Plan, October 2000). The RD&T Plan identified petroleum coke characteristics as a potential technical risk. The composition of petroleum coke varies from one refinery to another. Petroleum coke characteristics are a function of the crude oil slate available at the refinery and the coker operating parameters. The specific petroleum coke characteristics at a refinery affect the design of the Gasification and Acid Gas Removal (AGR) subsystems. Knowing the petroleum coke composition provides the necessary data to proceed to the EECP Phase III engineering design of the gasification process. Based on ChevronTexaco's experience, the EECP team ranked the technical, economic, and overall risks of the petroleum coke composition related to the gasification subsystem as low. In Phase I of the EECP Project, the Motiva Port Arthur Refinery had been identified as the potential EECP site. As a result of the merger between Texaco and Chevron in October 2001, Texaco was required to sell its interest in the Motiva Enterprises LLC joint venture to Shell Oil Company and Saudi Refining Inc. To assess the possible impact of moving the proposed EECP host site to a ChevronTexaco refinery, samples of petroleum coke from two ChevronTexaco refineries were sent to MTC for bench-scale testing. The results of the analysis of these samples were compared to the Phase I EECP Gasification Design Basis developed for Motiva's Port Arthur Refinery. The analysis confirms that if the proposed EECP is moved to a new refinery site, the Phase I EECP Gasification Design Basis would have to be updated. The lower sulfur content of the two samples from the ChevronTexaco refineries indicates that if one of these sites were selected, the Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) might be sized smaller than the current EECP design. This would reduce the capital expense of the SRU. Additionally, both ChevronTexaco samples have a higher hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio than the Motiva Port Arthur petroleum coke. The higher hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio could give a slightly higher F-T products yield from the F-T Synthesis Reactor. However, the EECP Gasification Design Basis can not be updated until the site for the proposed EECP site is finalized. Until the site is finalized, the feedstock (petroleum coke) characteristics are a low risk to the EECP project.
- Research Organization:
- Texaco Energy Systems LLC (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-99FT40658
- OSTI ID:
- 823413
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 16 Apr 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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EARLY ENTRANCE COPRODUCTION PLANT
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