DuPont Breaks Ground on Newest Air Emission Reduction Project

Agreement with Western Refining will be the environmental equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road

EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 10, 2006 – Responding to global demands for cleaner air and increasingly sophisticated methods of air pollution control, DuPont has broken ground on its newest Air Emission Reduction Project that promises the environmental equivalent of taking 50,000 cars (one in 10 cars) off El Paso roads and setting a standard for healthier refinery emissions.


For decades, DuPont has offered Sulfuric Acid Regeneration (SAR) services to refiners who use sulfuric acid as a catalyst in alkylation. With this latest project, a combined effort with El Paso’s Western Refining, DuPont is offering an integrated approach. An on-site sulfuric acid unit, which receives spent acid from the refinery’s alkylation unit and sulfur gases from the refinery’s process


The new unit will be owned and operated by DuPont under a commercial agreement. It is the first sulfuric acid regeneration facility of its kind in the southwestern United States. The project will allow more efficient management of sulfur processing at the refinery, and enables the plant’s two processing lines to recycle and reuse sulfur gases and spent sulfuric acid from the petroleum refining process. The project will improve the competitiveness of Western Refining by allowing the refinery to use more “sour crude” oil.


Today, petroleum refiners are handling crude oil with higher sulfur content than ever. At the same time, they are required to produce low-sulfur products, and to reduce the sulfur emissions generated in the process DuPont’s Environmental Solutions business offers science-based services and solutions to help petroleum refiners respond to these challenges in a way that reduces their environmental footprint.


“Our goal is to become the single-source solution for our global customers’ most difficult sulfur-related challenges,” said Joseph Skurla, business development director for DuPont Chemical Solutions. “We are in discussion with a number of other refineries, both inside and outside the United States, concerning the development of similar projects. We are pleased to be able to share our expertise and clean technologies with the world.”


DuPont’s first on-site SAR unit at the Valero Refinery in Delaware City, Del., started operations in September 2005; another at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Linden, N.J., recently broke ground.


DuPont is a science company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. With operating facilities in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, transportation and apparel.

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