New unit started up at Pančevo Oil Refinery

New SARU (Spent Acid Regeneration Unit) facility was ceremonially started up on 25 April 2012 at Pančevo Oil Refinery.

New unit was started up in the presence of NIS CEO Kirill Kravchenko, Oliver Dulić, Minister of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, government and local officials, as well as presidential candidate Boris Tadić. Guests took a tour of the facilities and got acquainted with operations within the Pančevo Oil Refinery modernisation project.

By building the SARU, which is worth around EUR 14.3 million, NIS realised one of its most important projects which is the integral part of the Pančevo Oil Refinery modernisation project. More precisely, it is a part of the new MHC/DHT complex.

SARU is of specific significance to environmental protection. In its operations the new facility uses waste-free technology. Moreover, spent acid, which is considered as hazardous waste, is completely refined and used again in the production process as concentrated acid. This solves the issue of storage and safe waste disposal, as well as its transportation. Environmental protection is at the same time increased by reducing harmful emissions and neutralising incident risks.

Furthermore, by refining the spent sulphuric acid into concentrated acid, procurement issues are solved, and an uninterrupted production of unleaded Euro-5 petroleum is secured.

Due to SARU start-up, production cost is significantly reduced which enables NIS to be independent in procurement, storage and permanent disposal of spent sulphuric acid. Moreover, until now, spent sulphuric acid was stored in rented containers at Azotara in Pančevo and Prva Iskra in Barič, after which it was transported to Germany for disposal, which created significant expenses.

NIS CEO, Kirill Kravchenko said that “new unit start-up is a clear confirmation that the NIS refining facility modernisation has entered its final phase, due to which one of the largest industrial projects in the previous years in Serbia shall be finished – a modernised Pančevo Oil Refinery, capable of producing Euro-quality fuel in full capacity.”