In its Production Plant in Płock, PKN ORLEN has two very modern petrol reforming units – Reforming V and VI – developed in accordance with the latest technology. Their basic task is to increase the octane content of petrol. Reforming V was designed to work in two regimes – fuel and aromatic. The basic product in the case of the fuel regime is reformate with a high octane number. It is used for the blending of high-octane petrol with limited benzene – aromatic hydrocarbon – content, whose content in fuel is limited due to its negative impact on the environment. This unit is also used to recover hydrogen which, purified at the hydrogen recovery unit, is used in hydrogen processes. As a result, the consumption of natural gas, used as raw material for the production of hydrogen in alternative chemical processes, is reduced.
Thanks to the expansion of the unit the content of other aromatic compounds in fuel will be reduced and aromatics will be redirected to the petrochemical complex units. There, they will be processed using technologies which have limited environmental impact and prevent any possibility of their being released or escaping into the environment. In most cases, products and semi-products in whose composition aromatic compounds are included are capable of being recycled.
PKN ORLEN is also working on incorporating alternative energy sources. Current plans focus on adapting existing units for the purposes of the production of next generation fuels, namely synthetic hydrocarbons. It is worth noting that PKN ORLEN implemented the National Indicator Target for the fi rst time in 2008. A decision of the Polish Council of Ministers of 15 June 2007 determined the volume of biocomponent content in fuel in Poland, in 2008–2013, starting at 3.45% in 2008 and increasing to 7.1% in 2013. PKN ORLEN achieved the target set for 2008 with 3.46% biocomponent content. The Company has used biocomponents for the production of fuel since 2007, which guarantees its environmental value.
PKN ORLEN joined the Solomon Fuel Study for the fi rst time in 2004. It is one of the most renowned studies in the fuel industry, participated by appr. 95% of refi neries globally. Currently, analyses cover the entire refi nery business. In the 2008 benchmark, the Company took a highly respectable 10th place in terms of production maintenance effectiveness – expenditures both on current production maintenance and planned standstills, and 13th place in terms of return on investment (from among the 111 refi neries participating in the study).
The total emission of all pollutants was reduced by 1.3%, given a 4.16% increase in crude oil throughout in 2008. It is worth noticing that sulphur dioxide emissions into the atmosphere dropped by 2.52% solely due to the use of low-sulphur fuel. Thanks to replacing the old burners with low-emission ones on another boiler in the Combined Heat and Power Plant, the amount of nitrogen monoxide was reduced by 8.74%. We are in the course of conceptual work on the construction of an exhaust gas desulphurisation unit and an exhaust gas catalytic denitrogenation unit. In 2008, we entered the second trading period of the Community greenhouse gas trading system, covering the period of 2008–2012. According to verifi ed reports, the units qualifi ed under the system did not exceed their average annual allowances. Sulphur content in petrol went down from 0.0008 weight percent in 2007 to 0.0006 weight percent in 2008, given an increase in the biocomponent (ETBE) content from 3.7% to 6.48%.
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