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North Pole refinery recycling heat New system will lower temperature of oil returned to TAPS but Alyeska says it is already implementing systems to heat oil in line Alan Bailey Petroleum News
Flint Hills spokesman Jeff Cook has confirmed with Petroleum News that his company has been modifying the North Pole oil refinery near Fairbanks, to recover heat from unused oil that the refinery returns to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. The result will be a lowering of the temperature of the oil returned into the line.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline, is grappling with problems resulting from the cooling of oil in the line, as the rate of flow through the line drops as a result of declining North Slope oil production. The return of warm fluids into the line at North Pole is an important factor in maintaining the oil at acceptable temperatures in the southern portion of the line, between North Pole and the Valdez Marine Terminal.
Cook explained that the cooling of the oil in the line is creating problems for the North Pole refinery because the lower the temperature of the oil received at the refinery the more heat the refinery has to apply to raise the temperature of the oil to the refinery’s operational temperature of 630 F or more. In the past 17 years the temperature of the refinery’s oil feedstock has dropped from around 120 to 150 F to about 40 F, Cook said.
High energy cost And that drop in temperature translates to a major energy cost — to remain competitive without low-cost natural gas to heat the oil, the refinery needs to recycle some of the heat, he said. The refinery has been returning oil to the pipeline at temperatures of around 140 to 150 F. But although that output temperature will drop when the new system comes into operation, the temperature will not drop to the 40 F temperature of the feedstock oil, Cook said. The refinery itself is completely dependent on the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and does not want to jeopardize pipeline operations, he said.
Alyeska spokeswoman Katie Pesznecker told Petroleum News Feb. 8 that Alyeska does anticipate Flint Hill’s new system lowering the temperature of the oil in the trans-Alaska pipeline south of North Pole. However, Alyeska has been working hard for some time on developing solutions to the problems associated with low oil temperatures, she said.
“We’ve already competed some work to add heat to the line and that includes our current recirculation of oil using pumps at pump stations three, four and nine to increase the heat at those stations,” Pesznecker said. “We also have pump station seven available to recirculate crude oil and add heat as needed.”
Additional planned and scheduled work will add further heat to the system, she said.
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