Pakistan ARL to build clean autofuel secondary units

Pakistan’s Attock Refinery Ltd. (ARL) will start constructing a new 12,400 barrels per day (bpd) diesel hydrotreater and an isomerization unit at its refinery in Riwalpindi, northern Pakistan in June to produce cleaner autofuels. The hydrotreater will be used to remove sulfur from diesel produced at the 40,000 bpd refinery, while the isomerization unit will help boost the octane level and reduce benzene and olefins in gasoline. This move will enable ARL to move to Euro II emission standards, which limit diesel sulfur content to 0.05%. The construction will take about 30 months before the units can be fully operational, the company said. The refinery is currently running at 37,500 bpd capacity as a 5,000 bpd crude unit was shut down for maintenance in February last month. The unit is expected to be functional on April 30, 2010. (April 8, 20009)