Alexandria National Refining & Petrochemical Company (ANRPC) is upgrading its naphtha complex in Egypt using Honeywell UOP engineering services to increase the production of gasoline.

This should help the country decrease its dependency on imported fuels.

The upgrade, which creates high quality product and feedstock for petrochemical production, will be applied to two UOP naphtha hydrotreating units to pre-treat the feedstocks to two CCR platforming process units and Penex DIH process units at ANRPC’s refinery in Alexandria, Egypt.

Naphtha is a petrochemical feedstock traditionally derived from crude oil and natural gas condensates. Honeywell UOP will revamp the naphtha complex to increase ANRPC’s naphtha processing, projected to be up to 125 per cent.

“ANRPC has utilised Honeywell technology in their refinery since 2001,” said Laura Leonard, vice president at Honeywell UOP. “They know and trust our products and have selected Honeywell UOP because of its ability to understand our customers’ needs for these complex refinery upgrades. Our technologies will allow this refinery to revamp its naphtha complexes resulting in improved production at ANRPC.”

ANRPC chairman Salah Gaber added: “ANRPC would like to express their profound happiness and gratitude for Honeywell UOP’s technology in our revamp and capacity upgrade project. We hope to collaborate with Honeywell UOP again in the future.”

ANRPC is one of the biggest refining companies in Egypt working under the umbrella of Egyptian general petroleum corporation (EGPC). It was founded with the latest international standards using the licence of UOP. The company establishes, manages and operates refining, manufacturing and petrochemical plants to produce high-octane gasoline, LPG, propane, hydrogen, heavy naphtha and light reformate, among others. Founded in 1999, ANRPC is based in Alexandria, Egypt, and sells products domestically and internationally.

Honeywell UOP is an international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries.