Contract Signed to Handle REFAP's Oil-Bearing Secondary Material Processing Unit Line Title

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Brazil) and Veolia Water Americas signed a contract with Petrobras to design, build, own and operate an oil-bearing secondary material processing unit at its Alberto Pasqualini REFAP Refinery located in Porto Alegre, South Brazil. It is the sixth largest of Petrobras’ refineries with a capacity of 200,000 barrels/day. The new unit will use Veolia’s proprietary processes to recycle the oil-bearing material back into the refining production processes, which is anticipated to result in approximately $1.5 million in annual cost savings.

The recycled oil-bearing materials from the refinery’s crude processing streams will be used in the refinery’s coker unit. Veolia’s proprietary processes will help Petrobras increase its refining utilisation, while at the same time minimising waste generation and thereby helping the environment.

The parts and equipment for the new unit are being manufactured both in the United States and Brazil. The state-of-art processing unit is expected to begin operations in November 2013. When fully operational, the unit is anticipated to process approximately 6,200 barrels of oil-bearing material each month, more than 74,000 barrels per year.

"The new project is based on our long partnership with Petrobras, focusing on helping the company reach its environmental goals," says Ruddi de Souza, General Director of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Brazil. Veolia Water Americas are specialists in oil-bearing material management solutions, supplying services to more than 50 North American refineries and processing approximately 30,000 barrels of the material every day. By doing so, it helps the refineries return approximately 2.5 million barrels of oil per year to the refining process.

“Based on our track record in North American refineries, we believe this new partnership with Petrobras will be very successful in providing a highly sustainable process for oil-bearing material recycling and help minimise waste generation,” says Steve Hopper, Executive Vice President, Veolia Water Americas. “An important consideration was the ability to process different streams produced by the refinery and those that enter the refinery from different external sources. We have repeatedly demonstrated that our process will accomplish this essential task. We are honored that Petrobras selected Veolia Water as its partner for this important project,” he adds.

Petrobras evaluated several different processes utilised by Veolia Water, as well as the company’s services delivery model that guarantees commercial and technical performance. “Our approach reduces Petrobras’ risk by guaranteeing project performance. We can do this because of our unrivaled ability to back our proprietary technical solutions with a wealth of operational knowledge as demonstrated in refineries throughout North America,” explains Benoit Guerin, Veolia Water Latin America Business Development Director.