After more than two months of planned turnarounds, the refinery of Slovnaft in Bratislava is now in full operation and its production is available for the domestic and foreign markets.
Since May, a total of 21 production units have been gradually shut down and the company has invested more than 60 million euros in their cleaning, maintenance and modernisation, thus reducing the environmental burden, increasing the energy efficiency of petroleum product production and strengthening the safety of complex technological processes.
“Slovnaft has successfully started up the last production unit in maintenance and thus completed the summer phase of planned turnarounds,” said Martin Bičan, Head of Project and Turnaround Office at Slovnaft. “Regular inspection, cleaning and maintenance of production equipment is an important and crucial part of safe and efficient operation of the refinery and petrochemical facilities. Slovnaft’s production units are now fully operational again and the company is able to satisfy the needs of the domestic and foreign market.”
A unique project within the summer phase of the turnarounds was the replacement of the ageing atmospheric furnace on the Atmospheric Distillation 5 (AD5) unit, which had been in operation since 1967, with a new one. At the same time, the AD5 column was replaced with a new one, which makes the distillation process more efficient and reduces the risk of fire. The replacement of two pumps in the Circulation Centre of the refinery brings a direct reduction in energy consumption. Electricity consumption within the Circulation Centre should be reduced by 6.7 per cent annually.
This year’s cycle of planned turnarounds will conclude in the autumn when three production units will be shut down for approximately three weeks. In total, Slovnaft will invest a total of 78 million euros in the maintenance, repair and modernisation of more than half of its production units this year.
