North West Upgrading Inc. Selects UOP Hydroprocessing Technology for Synthetic Crude Upgrading

North West Upgrading Inc. has selected UOP for the design and license of a new hydroprocessing unit to upgrade synthetically derived crude oil. UOP will design an integrated Distillate Unionfining(TM) process and Unicracking(TM) process unit to produce a synthetic crude oil blend via both hydrotreating of 31,750 bpsd of naphtha and distillate range feedstock and partial conversion hydrocracking of 27,200 bpsd of distillate and vacuum gas oil range feedstock. The integrated unit design will have parallel reactors for hydrotreating and hydrocracking and will include a single common section for reactor effluent stabilization and recycle gas compression in order to minimize the capital and operating costs.

North West Upgrading Inc. is a privately owned, Calgary-based company constructing a heavy oil upgrader in Sturgeon County, 45 kilometers (28 miles) northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. The project will consist of three phases, each with a design capacity of 50,000 barrels of bitumen per day, plus pipeline diluent. The first phase of the project will come on stream in early 2010, with the second and third phases following in response to market developments.

UOP LLC, headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., U. S. A., is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, process plants and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries.