FLORENCE, ITALY, March 17, 2005: -- GE Energy has manufactured and shipped the largest distillate hydro cracker reactor ever built in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is being installed in one the largest oil refineries in France, the Gonfreville l'Orcher facility owned by Total France SA.
The reactor weighs nearly 1,450 tons and is 42 meters long, with an external diameter of 5.5 meters. It was entirely constructed in GE Energy's Massa, Italy plant, the center of excellence for GE Energy's oil and gas business for fabricated equipment and heavy wall reactors, and one of the few facilities in the world capable of building a reactor of this size.
"The fabrication of this kind of reactor requires very specialized manufacturing knowledge, welding technology and process and control systems, along with special equipment and devices," said Nicoletta Giadrossi, downstream general manager of GE Energy's oil and gas business. "Only a few fabricators in the world are capable of manufacturing this type and size of reactor."
The reactor was constructed by welding several rings of 267-millimeter thickness, and using advanced materials able to operate at the high temperatures and pressure levels required in the refining process: in this case, 454° C and 180 bar pressure.
The reactor was transported from Massa to the port of Marina di Carrara, in Tuscany, Italy, where it was loaded onto a specialized roll-on/roll-off vessel for the voyage to France. It is being installed at the Gonfreville refinery by Technip of Paris, France, a leading engineering and construction firm for the oil and gas industry, and is expected to enter commercial service in early 2006.
Because of the size of the new reactor, it will be capable of treating large amounts of distillate to obtain kerosene, naphtha and gasoline increasing the efficiency and economics of the Gonfreville refinery operations.
GE Energy's oil and gas business is based in Florence, Italy, the home of Nuovo Pignone, a long-time global leader in gas compression and turbo generation products. GE acquired ownership of Nuovo Pignone in 1994 and since then has continued to expand its oil and gas business by acquiring or developing partnerships with other technology and experience leaders in the industry.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technology, with 2004 revenues of $17.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, transmission and distribution, distributed power and energy rental industries.
For more information, contact:
Dennis Murphy
GE Energy
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Ken Darling or Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
+1 518 786 6488
[email protected]
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Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
[email protected]
1-518-786-6488
Ken Darling
Masto Public Relations
[email protected]
1-518-786-6488