The Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co. (TAKREER) operates the 400,000 b/d Ruwais Refinery, which is located in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi, UAE. The facility was inaugurated in 1982.

The refinery features the following process units: crude distillation (120,000 b/d); naphtha hydrodesulfurization (34,350 b/d); catalytic reformer (19,150 b/d); kerosene hydrotreater (20,780 b/d); gas oil hydrodesulfurization (21,850 b/d); vacuum (46,000 b/d); Unibon unit/hydrocracker (27,000 b/d); hydrogen plant (60,000 Nm3/hr); sulfur recovery plants (2) (44 and 49 tons per day); condensate splitters (2 x 140,000 b/d); naphtha stabilizers (2 x 27,500 b/d); and kerosene sweetening (2 x 52,000 b/d).

The Ruwais complex also includes tank farms and offsites (91 tanks with nominal storage capacity of more than 3 million cubic meters), a seven-berth marine terminal that can accommodate tankers with capacities ranging from 2,000 to 330,000 dwt, and a sulfur handling and granulation plant. In addition, the refinery generates all its utilities.

The Ruwais Refinery produces a variety of products, including: liquefied petroleum gas; premium unleaded gasoline (98 Octane); special unleaded gasoline (95 Octane); naphtha grades; Jet-A1 and kerosene grades; gas oil grades; straight run residue; bunker grades 180 and 380 cst; and granulated sulfur.

Project description

In February 2008, the UAE government-run Emirates News Agency announced that TAKREER is expanding the Ruwais complex by building a 417,000-b/d refinery. The impetus for the project, which will dramatically increase TAKREER's current total refining capacity of 485,000 b/d, is the need to meet more stringent product quality requirements and environmental legislation, according to TAKREER's general manager.

The refinery will produce propylene, unleaded gasoline, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), aviation turbine fuel, kerosene, gas-oil, bunker fuel, and other hydrocarbon derivatives. UOP LLC is providing much of the technology for the process units at the new facility. UOP technologies at the refinery will include the following: the Unicracking hydrocracking process, which will be used with the Distillate Unionfining fixed-bed catalytic residue hydrotreating technology to upgrade heavy feedstocks to produce ultra-low-sulfur diesel; the Merox process to remove sulfur from saturated LPG streams; the BenSat catalyst to manage benzene content in the gasoline pool; and a hydrotreating unit that will use the UOP Naphtha Hydrotreating process and Distillate Unionfining process to produce low-sulfur kerosene. According to UOP, the hydrotreating unit is the largest kerosene-fed unit the company has ever licensed.

TAKREER also has selected The Shaw Group Inc. to provide engineering services and licensing for its proprietary Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) technology for the new refinery. The 127,100- barrel-per-stream-day RFCC is the world's largest under design, Shaw noted. Shaw also will provide engineering services to integrate and coordinate 11 new process units from other licensors at the site.

As of late-September 2008, basic engineering design for the new facility was in progress. The anticipated completion date for the grassroots expansion is 2014.