ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Refinery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the sixth-largest oil refinery in the United States and seventeenth-largest in the world,[1] with an input capacity of 540,000 oilbbl per day as of January 1, 2020.[2] The refinery is the site of the first commercial fluid catalytic cracking plant that began processing at the refinery on May 25, 1942.[3]
History
Standard Oil first erected the refinery in 1909. Today's facility is part of a complex made of nine individual plants across the region. The main plant is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River. There are about 6,300 workers spread across these sites, including 4,000 direct employees (the rest are contractors).
In 2013 Genesis Energy LP announced an investment of $125 million to improve ExxonMobil's existing assets in the Baton Rouge area. The investment includes plans to build an 18 mi, 20 in diameter crude oil pipeline that connects Genesis Energy's Port Hudson terminal, to ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge refinery.[4]
Units
Petroleum refining units
According to ExxonMobil's filings with the US DOE's Energy Information Agency, the unit capacities for the Baton Rouge Refinery are presented below:[5] The refinery undertook a $230 million[6] investment to modernize the crude unit and expand crude flexibility as part of the BRRIC program with plans to increase exports of clean fuels.[7] The project involved up to 600 contractors and took place over 3 years.[8]
ExxonMobil is also considering a biofuels project to be constructed at the Baton Rouge site. [9]
Electricity generation
The refinery operates is own powerplant with the following detail:[10]
PetroChemical production
The ExxonMobil Chemical division operates a steam cracker that is integrated with the refinery and has an output of 975,000 mt per year of ethylene.[11]
Environmental permits
The refinery operates with a Title V Air Major permit covering its emissions. The facility ID is LA0000002203300015 for the air permit which is the most important permit controlling the emissions thresholds of the plant.[12]
Greenhouse gas emissions history
As a major emitting facility, The ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery and Petrochemical Site must report its complete greenhouse gas emissions to the EPA every year subject to the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The Baton Rouge reports as four separate facilities but with the integrated refinery and olefins unit being the largest and accounting for >95% of emissions. The greenhouse gas emissions by year are reported below:[13]
The Baton Rouge Refinery is one of the ten largest emitting refineries in the United States according to Reuters. However, it is also a top ten refinery in size and complexity and is deeply integrated with its petrochemical business.[14]
See also
- Cancer Alley
- Atmospheric distillation of crude oil
- HF Acid Alkylation
- Cracking (chemistry)
- Delayed coker
External links
References
- List of oil refineries^
- 2018 Baton Rouge Refinery fact sheet 2018, retrieved September 26, 2020^
- The Fluid Bed Reactor American Chemical Society, November 3, 1998, retrieved September 26, 2020^
- Gary Perilloux. Genesis Energy To Invest $125 Million In Baton Rouge Area Infrastructure Project Louisiana Economic Development, February 4, 2013, retrieved September 26, 2020^
- Data & Statistics www.afpm.org, retrieved 2024-10-24^
- Dillon Lowe. ExxonMobil completes $230M upgrade of Baton Rouge refinery Baton Rouge Business Report, 2024-01-19, retrieved 2024-10-30^
- Sheela Tobben. Another BRRIC in the Wall - Baton Rouge Refinery Set to Access More Crudes, Boost Exports After Modernization RBN Energy LLC, 2024^
- ExxonMobil BRRIC Update 2021 ExxonMobil^
- Robert Stewart. Biofuels could be coming to Baton Rouge refinery, ExxonMobil CEO says The Advocate, 2024-02-07, retrieved 2024-10-30^
- ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Turbine Generator power station Global Energy Monitor, retrieved 2024-11-12^
- Leena Koottungal. International survey of ethylene from steam crackers - 2015 Oil & Gas Journal, 2015-07-07, retrieved 2024-11-12^
- TRI Facility Report enviro.epa.gov, retrieved 2024-10-24^
- OAR US EPA. Data Sets United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2015-05-18, retrieved 2024-11-12^
- Tim Mclaughlin. Insight: Three Exxon refineries top the list of U.S. polluters Reuters, 2021^