Future production of gasoline in Brazil; Producao futura de gasolina no Brasil

Faced with the challenge of making 2014 gasoline, PETROBRAS established the planning of a new refining park that made possible this production. The proposal comprised new process units with hydrotreating and conversion. These units have the function to work synergistically, according to the needs and characteristics of each refinery. The large reduction in the sulfur content generated the need to use cracked naphtha hydrodesulfurization units (HDS) in the refining scheme. However, these units, in addition to removing sulfur, reduce octane number due to saturation of some olefins, which would imply a drop in gasoline production. The reduction of the content of olefins in the specification led the need to dilute the produced olefins in the blend, as PETROBRAS gasoline is composed on average of 70% cracked naphtha. Catalytic Reforming Units (CCR) will become part of the refining scheme with two main functions, dilute olefins and restore the octane number loss in the hydrodesulfurization process. This is possible because reformed naphtha has no olefins and a high octane index. The feedstock must be hydrotreated to remove contaminants, and such units become even more severe if the feedstock is combined with naphtha from Delayed coking units (DCU). As a result, new hydrotreatment of naphtha (distillation and DCU) were also included in the new refinery schemes. All this new refining structure, focusing on the new gasoline specification, is being implemented. Each refinery has a new scheme of its own, according to its characteristics. (author)