Phillips, Marathon Ashland sign S Zorb technology licensing agreement

Nation’s sixth largest refiner first to sign agreement for design, installation of Phillips’ sulfur removal technology

Petroleum News Alaska

Phillips Petroleum Co. said May 16 that it has signed a field licensing agreement with Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC for the design and installation of Phillips’ S Zorb sulfur removal technology at Marathon Ashland’s refineries.

Phillips said the S Zorb sulfur removal technology is a breakthrough process that significantly lowers the sulfur content in gasoline blending streams.

The agreement with Marathon Ashland, the nation’s sixth largest petroleum refiner, represents the first field license for use of the S Zorb technology, Phillips said. The license covers Marathon Ashland’s seven refineries which, at a crude charge of 935,000 barrels per day, represent 6 percent of the total U.S. refining capacity.

The S Zorb sulfur removal technology was developed to help oil companies comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier II sulfur regulatory levels, Phillips said. By 2004, gasoline sold in the United States must have a sulfur content no higher than 30 parts per million. Today’s average gasoline contains 340 parts per million.

Phillips said its technology significantly reduces sulfur content levels with a minimal loss in octane.

“We believe our technology is superior to any other being developed to satisfy EPA requirements,” said Brian Evans, fuels technology manager. “We consider our agreement with Marathon Ashland an endorsement of S Zorb SRT.”

The S Zorb technology uses a regenerative sorbent that chemically attracts sulfur and removes it from gasoline blendstocks. Phillips said that conventional technologies can result in a loss of octane and volume in the manufacturing process while the S Zorb process, which costs no more to implement than current processes, has little octane loss.

The sorbent material can be regenerated online, allowing for run lengths that match fluid catalytic cracker unit operations. The process consumes very little hydrogen — a scarce resource in many refineries — and also has the ability to use low purity hydrogen. The first commercial unit at Phillips’ Borger, Texas, refinery will come onstream in early 2001.