YPF S.A. Contracts DuPont Clean Technologies for IsoTherming® Hydrotreating Technology

Argentine energy company YPF S.A. has signed a contract with DuPont Clean Technologies for the license and basic engineering of a new IsoTherming^® Diesel Hydrotreater Unit. The grassroots hydrotreater will be installed at the YPF Plaza Huincul refinery in Neuquen Province, Argentina. The oil refinery is located in Patagonia and produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuels and methanol. It processes more than 4,000 m³ of oil per day. Earlier in the year, YPF announced that it would be leading a process between 2018 and 2022 to increase hydrocarbon production and comply with the latest fuel specifications to be adopted on Jan. 1, 2022.

IsoTherming^® Diesel Hydrotreaters enable refiners to produce high-quality, low-sulfur fuels that comply with increasingly stringent environmental requirements, but at lower energy consumption rates and operating costs than trickle bed hydroprocessing units. The IsoTherming^® technology is commercially proven to process a wide range of feedstocks, from kerosene to vacuum gas oil, including 100 percent light cycle oil. The units are designed to provide refiners with a consistent saving on utilities in the magnitude of 30-60 percent compared to trickle bed technologies and the potential of 30 percent capital cost savings or more.

Ramiro Gonzalez, Latin America business development manager, DuPont Clean Technologies said, “The IsoTherming^® Diesel Hydrotreater for YPF provides an extremely low capital cost solution with the ability to produce ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) with no reactor recycle pump.  The elimination of the reactor recycle pump results in a unique ability to upgrade diesel to ULSD with minimum plot space and capital expense. This allows YPF to process 1,632 m³/day (10,265 BPSD) of diesel feed to produce clean diesel fuel with a sulfur content below 10 wppm.”

Startup of the IsoTherming^® Diesel Hydrotreater at the Plaza Huincul site is expected to take place by 2022.