Abstract

Since late 1971 Pertamina Unit II refinery operations have been limited by a surplus of naphtha production and will remain so within the foreseeable future.

The paper that follows describes our experiment of burning naphtha as refinery fuel to find out whether it meets the criteria of a satisfactory refinery fuel: i.e. besides being cheap and available in the required quantities whether it has satisfactory handling and combustion characteristics. Burning naphtha as refinery fuel will reduce the surplus of naphtha and release attractively priced low sulphur waxy residue.

Naphtha burning is a completely new feature with Unit II; however the experiment was a success and naphtha burning has now become a practice in Unit II furnaces.

It is our hope that the result of our experiment will also have beneficial application in other Pertamina Units during this period of slack naphtha demand.