Water tube boilers - Modernization of a refinery in Bulgaria
Emissions significantly lower than specified for efficient refinery gas utilization
On Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, the Russian oil company Lukoil operates the largest refinery in Southeast Europe. During the refining of crude oil, refinery gas is a by-product of the process, which has not been used efficiently so far. The steam produced in water-tube boilers is used to generate electricity or as process steam according to the principle of combined heat and power generation. Until now, the boilers have operated inefficiently and achieved emission values around 350 mg/m3 NOx.
A particular challenge: Due to the burner arrangement, a simple replacement with low NOx burners would not have achieved a significant improvement in these values.
"All work was done with high professionalism, quality and in the shortest possible time. The modernization increased the boiler efficiency by more than 8 % at all load points. At the same time, NOx emissions were halved."
- A. A. Belov, Lukoil, manager of the Burgas plant
Innovative combustion and process engineering
SAACKE developed an intelligent modernization concept for the combustion plant with the help of ultra-modern CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) flow simulations. This concept could be optimally integrated into the existing infrastructure and led to a very short rebuilding phase as well as significantly reduced rebuilding costs.
All advantages at a glance
- Minimal downtime and conversion costs through optimal integration into existing infrastructure
- Time and resource-saving development using CFD simulations
- Increasing efficiency and reducing NOx emissions
- Professional project management, fast delivery and smooth commissioning
- Robust, low-maintenance firing system with maximum availability and easy operation
- Modernized orientation for future investments and environmental requirements
- Reliable maintenance service even after commissioning
© SAACKE GmbH 2025
