Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery successfully places 544-ton naphtha splitter column

Ras Tanura Refinery Clean Fuels Project has placed its heaviest and largest piece of equipment — a naphtha splitter column weighing 544 tons, Saudi Aramco said in a statement on Monday.

After six weeks of site preparation and crane positioning, it took only three hours to complete the lift of the 65-meter high column, the statement on its website added.

For the lift, a 1,600 ton main crane was utilized together with a tailing crane with a total nominal capacity of 600 tons.

The 8-meter-diameter column required extensive coordination during transportation. This included disconnecting several overhead power cables to allow for safe passage and modifying the Jubail-Dhahran highway to avoid bridges.

The column is the main feeder to the new world’s largest Continuous Catalytic Reforming (CCR) and Isomerization Units, with a total operating capacity of 90,000 and 65,000 barrels per day, respectively, the statement noted.

The main function of the naphtha splitter column is to split the hydrotreated naphtha into light and heavy naphtha, which is a key function to the Naphtha Hydrotreating Unit, as it controls the benzene precursors, which are then sent to the Isomerization Unit.

The project will provide facilities to support Saudi Aramco’s corporate objective of effectively supplying diesel and gasoline products that comply with the future Saudi Aramco gasoline and diesel quality specifications, as per Euro-V fuels quality standard.