SAPREF BRINGS DOWN SULPHUR DIOXIDE EMISSIONS

27 May 2003

SAPREF, the crude oil refinery in south Durban, today officially commissioned its biggest ever environmental initiative which has nearly halved its sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions. The R350 million capital investment project, which involved the construction of three new units over a 15 month period, has reduced the refinery's SO2 emissions by 46 percent.

Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, officially commissioned the new units at the refinery today, in the presence of community members, authorities, and representatives from SAPREF and its joint shareholders Shell and BP Southern Africa.

Parkes said the project, called SRU4/SCOT, demonstrated SAPREF's commitment to continually reduce its environmental impact in light of the pollution concerns in south Durban. "This project has significantly enhanced our environmental performance. We are happy to have delivered on our promise to the community and we hope that through ongoing dialogue with our stakeholders, we can contribute to a better quality of life for our neighbours," Parkes said.

The project to construct a state-of-the-art sulphur recovery unit (SRU4), a Shell Claus off-gas treating unit (SCOT) and a sulphur degasser, began in June 2001 and the units were successfully commissioned in October 2002. International expertise were brought in to ensure a flawless startup of SRU4/SCOT that was in accordance with world best practice.

 "After the units were commissioned we immediately saw a drop in SO2 emissions. We have had an opportunity over the last seven or eight months to monitor the performance of SRU4/SCOT and we are satisfied that it is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. We are confident that we are well on our way to meeting our target of only 20 tons a day on average for the year 2003," said Parkes.

The new units have increased the efficiency of SAPREF's sulphur recovery from 95 percent to 99.8 percent and have allowed for additional recovery of sulphur at various stages of crude oil processing. This has resulted in a 46 percent decrease in SO2 emissions to the atmosphere and has reduced sulphur in diesel in line with the new diesel fuel specifications.

The project involved replacing one of SAPREF's sulphur recovery units with a modern unit and building the SCOT unit downstream of the refinery's two sulphur recovery units to process their tail gas streams, removing traces of sulphur dioxide. A sulphur degasser was also installed to remove residual H2S (hydrogen sulphide) from the liquid sulphur from both sulphur recovery units.

To further reduce SO2 emissions, the sour water strippers (which remove contaminants from process water) have been rationalised and the tail gas from these units is piped to the sulphur recovery units. Additional work to integrate the new units involved changing the type of amine solvent used to recover H2S from the refinery treating process, relocating various pieces of auxiliary equipment, demolishing redundant facilities and modifying several auxiliary treating units to increase their sulphur removal capacity.