Excel Paralubes Adds New Technology to Boost Plant Capacity

Excel Paralubes (Westlake, LA), the base oil joint-venture between Conoco Inc. and Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. (both of Houston), has increased capacity for Group II base oil to 21,000 bbl/d, 17% greater than its original design capacity. "We expect additional growth in plant capacity in 2000 as we optimize our process catalysts," says Excel Paralube manager Eric Johnson.

The Westlake plant's higher capacity is the result of continuous improvement and debottlenecking existing processes, says Johnson. The unit uses severe hydrocracking to yield Group II oils that contain more than 90% saturated molecules and less than 0.03% sulfur. (Group I oils, which do not meet this standard, are generally produced by older, solvent-based plants.)

The Excel facility was the first to use license Chevron's isodewaxing technology. Tweaking that process has yielded much of the capacity improvement. Chevron says the technology increases base oil yields, improves quality, and lowers operating expenses.

Until isodewaxing, refiners dewaxed base oils either by removing it with solvents or running it over a zeolite to selectively crack wax into naphtha and gases. Removing wax improves base oil pour point, but only by lowering yield.

Introduced in 1993, Chevron's isodewaxing technology removes nothing. Instead, it catalytically isomerizes the wax into C20+ isoparaffins with high viscosity indices (VI), low pour points, and good oxidation resistance. Because it preserves the base oil's paraffinic nature, the process yields higher product viscosity and/or higher yields than other dewaxing processes.

Excel's Westlake facility, which cost $500 million, was dedicated in April 1997. Conoco invested an additional $250 million to expand its adjacent 232,000-bbl/d Lake Charles refinery. The Excel plant achieved QS 9000 certification within its first year of operation. Formulated by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, the QS 9000 standard incorporates ISO 9000 standards with additional elements to ensure continuous improvement.

For more information: Eric Johnson, Manager, Excel Paralubes, PO Box 37, Westlake, LA 70669. Phone: 318-497-4985. Fax: 318-491-5613.

By Alan S. Brown