STUART PROJECT COMPLETES 6-DAY RUN IN MAY

In May Southern Pacific Petroleum and Central Pacific Minerals reported successful completion of a 6-day test run at the Stuart Stage 1 AOSTRA Taciuk Processor (ATP). The run was designed to test the effect of an initial series of planned operational and facility improvements to mitigate odor, sulfur dioxide and shale particulate emissions from the plant. During the run, shale rates were maintained at the planned level of 160 tonnes per hour (64 percent capacity) over a period of about 100 hours. Operationally, the plant ran smoothly, with the ATP and oil recovery equipment performing reliably. In addition, air emissions were reduced substantially. Although emissions mitigation was the prime object of the run, raw naphtha and Medium Shale Oil (MSO) were produced at design specifications throughout much of the run at a combined rate of about 2,500 barrels per day.

A number of operational and facility changes were implemented for this test run which contributed to reducing air emissions:

Looking forward, extensive emissions and operating data collected during the run will be analyzed to facilitate assessment of further emissions mitigation steps and the planning for additional plant runs. A number of planned facility changes to further reduce air emissions are in the engineering and procurement phase and will be implemented in the next few months. These include enhancements to the wet-scrubbing equipment in the existing flue gas scrubbing system and the addition of a second thickener vessel to debottleneck particulate scrubbing capacity.

An important technical and operational outcome from this latest run was the production of on-spec raw naphtha and MSO during much of the test. The current volume of on-spec raw naphtha now in tankage (about 7,500 barrels) is expected to be sufficient to complete the commissioning of the naphtha hydrotreater which will be scheduled in the next few weeks.


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