Foster Wheeler Ltd.’s UK subsidiary, Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd (FWEL), has been awarded an engineering and procurement (E&P) contract by Preem Raffinaderi AB for a USD 34 million isomerisation revamp project at their refinery in Gothenburg, Sweden. The revamp project will debottleneck the existing isomerisation process and improve the octane level of the product to meet requirements of future legislation on the gasoline pool. The project consists of the revamp of the existing Penex unit, the addition of a new Molex unit and associated interconnecting services. The existing Penex unit converts low octane paraffins and benzene precursors to higher octane components via catalytic hydrogenation. The Molex unit uses UOP’s Molecular Sieve technology to extract and recycle normal paraffins and further increase the product octane number. Foster Wheeler’s scope of work covers the detailed engineering and design, based on licensor packages, provided by UOP for the Penex and Molex units. The company will be responsible for the procurement of all equipment and materials on the Molex unit with the exception of the rotary valve. The procurement for the Penex unit is split between Foster Wheeler and Preem. Preem will be responsible for the overall project management and for the management of construction. The work will be executed in FWEL’s Glasgow operations offices in the UK. Work on this project has started and is scheduled to be in production in the summer of 2002.
