The following is a summary of the primary process flow of North Atlantic's Refinery including a brief
description of the process and purpose of the identified processing units. This summary
excludes the various utility plants as well as a number of secondary units that add
relatively small incremental enhancements to higher valued products from the diesel and
fuel oil streams.
Crude & Vacuum Distillation Unit:
Crude oil from tankage is heated and processed in the crude unit for primary distillation
and separation into various components. The crude oil is first processed in the crude
distillation tower where the crude is fractionated into:
Liquid and non-liquid petroleum gas products (fuel gas, propane, butane)
Light liquid products (naphtha) which are further upgraded in the naphtha hydrotreater
and platformer for subsequent blending into gasoline
Middle distillates (kerosene and diesel) which are produced from the middle of the
distillation tower. Kerosene goes to either jet fuel blending, the distillate hydrotreater
for Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel (ULSD) production, or No. 6 fuel blending. Diesel goes to the
distillate hydrotreater for ULSD production
Material remaining in the bottom of the crude distillation tower (atmospheric tower
bottoms or ATBs) are sent to the vacuum tower for further separation.
The vacuum tower operates at less than atmospheric pressure and further fractionates the
ATBs. Vacuum gas-oil (VGO) recovered from the vacuum tower is then routed to the Isomax
(hydrocracker) to be upgraded primarily into naphtha, kerosene, and ultra-low sulphur
diesel. The residual vacuum tower bottoms (VTBs) stream is routed to the visbreaker.
ISOMAX Hydrocracker:
The Isomax (a UOP licensed hydrocracking process) uses high heat and pressure to
upgrade the VGO through catalytic hydrogenation. This process removes contaminants and
produces naphtha for gasoline blending and platformer feed, ULSD and jet fuel. The Isomax
fractionation bottoms (Frac Bottoms) are sold as a valuable lubricant feedstock.
Visbreaker:
The VTBs (asphalt-like product) are further processed in the visbreaker. The visbreaker
uses high temperature to crack long chain molecules thereby reducing viscosity to meet the
requirements for High Sulphur Fuel Oil (HSFO) blending.
Naphtha Hydrotreater, Platformer, and
Platformate Hydrogenation:
The naphtha hydrotreater (NHT), uses hydrogen and catalyst to remove sulphur and
nitrogen contaminants from the naphtha to enable it to be used as platformer feed. The
platformer then converts the low octane naphtha into high octane platformate for use in
gasoline blending. A portion of the platformate is further processed in the platformate
hydrogenation unit (PHU). The PHU reduces the benzene content of the platformate allowing
it to be blended into Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blended (RBOB) gasoline.
Distillate Hydrotreater:
The distillate hydrotreater operates at high pressure and uses hydrogen over a catalyst
bed to remove nearly all of the sulphur and nitrogen from the middle distillates for the
production of ULSD.
Storage and Shipping:
Crude oil and other feedstock and finished refined products from the various processing
units are temporarily stored in designated tanks. North Atlantic has storage capacity for
approximately seven million barrels of crude oil and refined product. This storage capacity
is allocated approximately 50 per cent crude oil feedstock and 50 per cent refined products.
Refined products are ultimately shipped by vessel for delivery to the United States
Atlantic Coast market, including Boston and New York City, and Europe. These markets
account for approximately 90 per cent of the refinery's production, and the balance is sold through
North Atlantic’s branded and unbranded distribution and marketing network in Newfoundland.
