The US-headquartered automation company Honeywell announced on Monday that Iraq’s Lanaz Company will use Honeywell’s UOP technology to upgrade its refinery in Erbil, Kurdistan. 

Lanaz will use Honeywell’s UOP modular naphtha hydrotreating and fixed-bed Platforming process units to upgrade its 100,000 barrels per day refinery to produce more cleaner-burning transportation fuels, Honeywell said in a press statement. 

The Lanaz Refinery was built in 2008.  

UOP has supplied licensing and basic engineering design services as well as full modular units to Lanaz, the statement said, adding that the upgrade marks the first use of UOP modular technology in the OPEC country and will help Lanaz comply with increasingly strict specifications for fuel products.  

According to the statement, refiners in developing economies are seeking modular solutions to maintain costs and mitigate risk with pre-fabrication and assembly completed in a safe and controlled environment off-site. In addition, modular technology provides a faster pathway to operations with facilities coming online less time.  

“Depending upon capacity and location, UOP’s modular technologies can reduce construction and installation costs more than 20 percent compared with systems constructed on site,” said Laura Leonard, vice president and general manager, UOP Process Technologies. “By upgrading with this technology, Lanaz can start operations between a year and 18 months faster than the traditional field-fabricated model, and quickly produce high-quality gasoline to meet growing demand.” 

(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon) 

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com) 

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