Lanzhou Petrochemical opens new diesel hydrogenation unit

Lanzhou Petrochemical Co., owned by PetroChina, began operations at its new 3 million metric ton (mt) per year diesel hydrogenation unit at the refinery in Gansu, northwest China.
Construction of the diesel hydrogenation unit started at the end of 2010 with a total investment of 1 billion yuan (US$158.0 million), and was completed in March this year. For the month of June, the refinery’s goal is to process 830,000 mt of crude oil, accounting for 96% of the total processing capacity of the refinery, which is slightly higher than the 95% in May.
Last year, the refinery processed 10.53 million mt of crude oil and produced 7 million mt of gasoline, kerosene and gasoline. The unit will enable the refinery to produce diesel fuel that meets the country’s Phase IV emission standards.
China has been introducing higher emission standards, in an effort to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions and in July of this year, China plans to implement new motor gasoline specifications that will be in line with Phase IV emission standards. The new standards will be implemented throughout the country by January 2015. (June 6, 2012)