Caltex’s magazine for employees, franchisees & resellers
Issue 42 Apr – May 08
Article Highlights
From those 12,500 tonnes the refinery will produce around 1,500 tonnes of jet fuel, 3,300 tonnes of extra low-sulfur diesel, 6,500 tonnes of petrol, 600 tonnes of diesel for export
In this issue:
The refinery, supporting a lifestyle
Discussing rate targets at Lytton, from left: Matt Fulton, David Wilson and Ian Keable.
10am, at Lytton refinery in Brisbane. "Morning Dave," says console operator Ian Keable to his colleague David Wilson in the refinery's brightly lit central control room.
With a cup of coffee beside him, Ian sits in front of a bank of monitors. The two men are discussing the rate target for the FCCU (fluid catalytic cracking unit). For today, it's 4,800 tonnes. That's the amount of "cracker feed", a heavy fraction of crude oil that the towering FCCU reactor will be required to process in 24 hours, turning the oil into fuel products.
The target has only just been set, after discussions at the morning production meeting chaired by the shift manager and attended by about 20 people from Supply Operations, Production, Reliability and Technical Services.
Cracking the oil molecules
"We'll have to run the unit at around 90 per cent capacity," says Ian as he keys in the new production target. With Ian's help, the control system will now adjust throughput in a highly complex process. The end result will see molecules of the heavy oil "cracked" in the FCCU to produce a variety of products – including LPG and blendstocks for diesel and petrol.
As specialised and difficult as controlling the FCCU throughput is, it's a small step among many in the labyrinthine workings of the largest refinery in Queensland and the fifth biggest in Australia.
The feed that goes into the FCCU is the heavy residue from crude oil that's already been processed through one of the refinery's two crude distillation units. Some 12,500 tonnes of crude oil is processed daily at Lytton in this way after the gas, naphtha (petrol fraction), diesel and jet fuel have been distilled from it.
From those 12,500 tonnes the refinery will produce around 1,500 tonnes of jet fuel, 3,300 tonnes of extra low-sulfur diesel, 6,500 tonnes of petrol, 600 tonnes of diesel for export – containing up to 500 parts per million of sulfur – 250 tonnes of LPG, 200 tonnes of fuel oil and smaller amounts of other products like refinery fuel gas.
35,000 tonnes a day
"With the production from Caltex's other refinery at Kurnell, the company can handle about 35,000 tonnes of crude oil per day," says Matt Fulton, Lytton refinery's Operations Planning Manager.
Almost 70 per cent of finished petroleum products are transported from Lytton via pipeline to local terminals for distribution throughout southeast Queensland. The remainder goes by ship to ports as far north as Cairns. From the terminals the product is trucked to service stations and finally dispensed to Caltex customers.
"The refinery and its products contribute to the growth of the state's economy," says Matt. "They support the Queensland lifestyle and offer great employment opportunities. We're proud of what we do."