Patty Hill, director of the Cenovus Lloydminster Refinery, left, chats with co-worker Brett Harris, director of communications, at the company’s open house at the Lloyd Ex on Oct. 18 about its proposed refinery flare replacement project. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
The skyline of the Cenovus Lloydminster Refinery isn’t the only thing in for a big change with a proposed flare replacement project.
The company plans to replace and move the existing 30-metre-tall flare stack on the east side of the refinery, with a new 62.5 m stack on the west side, further away from residential areas.
An open house was held at Lloyd Ex last week with Patty Hill, director of the asphalt refinery on hand to explain the project to stakeholders and area residents.
“We thought it was important to have an open house just to give them some information and answer any questions they might have,” said Hill.
“We’re replacing the flare just as part of our technology upgrades and continuous improvement.
“We always want to invest and advance and put in the newest technologies.”
The replacement system will increase the dispersion of combusted materials into the atmosphere and reduce ground-level emissions and odours.
It will also increase capacity to accommodate any future growth of the asphalt refinery from its current throughput capacity of 29,000 barrels a day.
Hill says site construction is expected to begin next spring, subject to regulatory approval to construct and operate the new flare system.
A local development permit is also required to proceed.
“We will be applying for that shortly with the City of Lloydminster and going through their approval process,” said Hill.
If the project goes ahead, construction traffic will use 52 St. with slightly heavier volumes expected around 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The flare replacement project is expected to create about 60 to 80 jobs for contractors with a peak workforce of 100 on-site.
No new positions will be added at the refinery which employs about 120 people.
“It’s just a replacement of an existing system,” said Hill.
“The work is going out for tender right now.”
The commissioning and start-up of the new flare system is expected in the summer of 2025.
The existing stack will be decommissioned and dismantled in the fall of 2025.
The new flare system will be designed to manage both planned and unplanned flaring.
Hill says the purpose of flaring is to burn off any gases that can’t be processed or captured.
“A flare stack is an important safety feature that helps to safely de-pressure equipment in case of a planned or unplanned outage,” she explained.
Planned flaring takes place during maintenance and turnaround activities while unplanned outages happen during process interruptions such as a power outage.
Hill says there is always a small flame visible at the top of the stack.
“We have a continuous small pilot there just to keep the flare system lit in case we need it, but it’s not a common event to have a larger flaring,” she said.
Hill says switching to the new flare system will be as seamless as possible with tie points in place to enable that.
The scope of the project with include tying additional relief valves into the new flare system to reduce worker hazards and better manage emissions and odours.
The flare system will consist of a flare stack and a larger flare knockout drum to remove process fluids from the vapours prior to combustion.
There will also be new piping to connect the new flare system to the main process unit.
“We’re going to be installing some air assists. There’s going to be some fans to help the flare be more efficient,” said Hill.
The air assist is intended to ensure smokeless operation of the flare.
The Lloydminster refinery mainly produces about 30 different types and grades of road asphalt from heavy oil.
