The contract was executed through group company Matheson Global HyCO Peru, and marks the first time a Nippon Sanso Holdings group company has developed business in Peru.
Hydrogen, steam and nitrogen will be supplied from a new HyCO plant and nitrogen plant at the Talara refinery (Minister of Energy and Mines, Alessandra Herrera Jara, carried out a technical inspection, pictured), which Matheson Global HyCO Peru operates and maintains. The hydrogen plant has been completed and is scheduled ot start operations, while trials at the nitrogen plant have already started.
Full operation of the refinery and supply of the gases are expected to start early 2023. In future, carbon dioxide (CO2) from the raw materials in the HyCO plant may be utilised.
Hydrogen gas supplied will remove impurities such as sulfur, while nitrogen will be used for purges, when the plants are started within the refinery.
Peru has high demand for petrochemical products such as plastics and polymers, prompting a boom in crude oil processing in the last 15 years, from 15,000bpd to 216,000bpd. Demand for CO2 is also high, estimated at around 25,000 tonnes annually.
Due to limitations in refineries’ production capacities, low-quality domestic production was exported and high-quality oil imported.
The large refinery upgrade plans from Petroperu is one of the investment opportunities arising from this growth market environment.
Matheson signed a long-term supply agreement to meet hydrogen requirements for a 75,000bpd refinery in Mobile, Alabama owned by Vertex Energy, in July.
The facility will have a nameplate capacity exceeding 30 mmscfd hydrogen production and capability to process a range of feedstocks, including renewable naphtha and other co-products from Vertex’s Renewable Diesel production, as well as natural gas.
Matheson is now receiving renewable energy from the newly operational 100MW Central Line Solar plant located in Eloy and Coolidge, Arizona.
Central Line Solar, owned and operated by The AES Corporation, is the second project developed by AES to serve SRP’s Sustainable Energy Offering.