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Distillation Plant as a Reference Project for Oil Refining

Capacity upgrade in Hoyerswerda

Distillation Plant as a Reference Project for Oil Refining

13 August 2024

Specialist Corporate Communication

Our plant engineering team in Tangstedt has designed, planned and built a distillation plant for our Hoyerswerda site. With an oil refining capacity of 10 tonnes per day, this reference project represents a significant upgrade for the site.

Play video Cover picture Video loading distillation plant

The distillation plant module responsible for preparing the input and collecting the output during loading.

Play video Cover picture Video loading distillation plant

The distillation plant module responsible for preparing the input and collecting the output during loading.

Oil refinement in three modules

At our Hoyerswerda site, we refine waste oils and pyrolysis oils into product oils exactly as requested by our customers. In order to expand our processing capacity, our plant engineering team in Tangstedt has designed, planned and built an enespa WastX GO10 distillation plant. The result is three modules that work together. We take a closer look at them.

Preparation of input, collection of output

We start with the module that prepares the oil to be refined by filtering and preheating it so that the subsequent distillation column can do its work. The preheating is fed by heat recovery from the condensation process. At the same time, this module also houses the final station in the form of product collection tanks, which collect up to four different distillate fractions from the input material as well as the residue.

Flexibel heater circuits

In another module, the oil to be refined is heated to a certain temperature under increased pressure and then fed back into the distillation column. The two pump motors, which transport the oil in a circuit from the distillation column through two separate heaters and back, are recognisable as red and black cylinders.

Depending on the input and product oil requirements, the heated quantity and temperature profile can be flexibly adjusted thanks to two separate heater circuits. They are connected in such a way that only one heater can be operated individually or both heaters can be operated either by both pumps in parallel or by one pump in series.

At the core: distilling and condensing

The distillation column is the actual centrepiece of the plant. Here, the oil to be refined is separated into different fractions by using the different boiling temperatures of the oil components. These are passed through coolers and condensers to cool the resulting products down to storage temperature and condense them.

Team performance in plant engineering

A team of project engineers and designers started this reference project in February 2024. The distillation plant was designed as a 3D model, after which the equipment, machines and other components were planned and requested. In the subsequent planning process, the team created and maintained all relevant plant documents. This was followed by electrical planning and material procurement. The distillation plant went into construction at the beginning of April. Four specialists worked on the mechanical production and two on the electrical production. In addition, the automation and programming elements were developed in-house.

The distillation plant has now arrived in Hoyerwerda and is in the process of being installed. Commissioning is planned for the beginning of September.

The distillation column is ready to be transported.
This module heats the oil to be refined in two circuits.
The enespa WastX GO10 distillation plant on its way to Hoyerswerda.

Author

Dominik Dörig

Specialist Corporate Communication

Contact Media Relations

Armed with a degree in Organisational Communication and Journalism, Dominik Dörig gained valuable experience working at an agency. He brought his experience in marketing, public relations and event management into the SME sector. After a decade working as a communications manager and management assistant, he joined the Marcom team at enespa in Appenzell in the autumn of 2023.

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