The Suncor Sarnia Refinery is an 85,000 bpd cracking plant located in the "Chemical Valley" section of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada alongside the St. Clair River. The refinery has been in continuous operation since 1952[1] and supplies petroleum products to the southern Ontario region including Toronto and its suburbs via the Sun-Canadian Pipeline.[2] The refinery has roughly 500 employees and contractors who work onsite.[3][4]
  Location of the Suncor Sarnia Refinery in Ontario | |
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Province | Ontario |
| City | Sarnia, Ontario |
| Coordinates | 42°55′52″N 82°26′23″W / 42.93111°N 82.43972°W |
| Refinery details | |
| Operator | Suncor |
| Commissioned | 1952 |
| Capacity | 85,000 bbl/d (13,500 m3/d) |
| Complexity index | 10.8 |
| No. of employees | 500 |
History
editEarly Beginnings (1940s–1950s)
editIn 1952, Sun Oil Company (later known as Sunoco, and eventually Suncor Energy), commissioned the Sarnia refinery. The location of the refinery in Sarnia was strategic due to its proximity to both the Alberta oil supply from the creation of the Interprovincial Pipe Line Company (now Enbridge) and major transportation routes along the Great Lakes. The Interprovincial Pipe Line was especially important to bringing Canadian crude to Sarnia. The connection was completed in 1953 and is now part of Enbridge's mainline system.[5]
The Suncor and Petro-Canada Era (1990s–2010s)
editDuring the period 1992-1995, Sun Oil "Sunoco" of Philadelphia sold its 75% ownership of Suncor Canada to the public. The final sale of 25% in 1995 severed Suncor and Sarnia Refinery from the much larger Sunoco.[6] The Sarnia Refinery still maintains several physical pipeline connections to the former Sunoco Toledo, Ohio plant (now PBF) which is approximately twice the size of Sarnia. Sarnia served as Suncor's lone refinery until the purchase of the Commerce City Refinery in Denver, CO in 2003.[7] In 2009, the merger between PetroCanada and Suncor meant that Sarnia would become part of a much larger refining system with plants in Edmonton and Montreal.
A major period of investment was undertaken from 2004-2007 at the site with modernization activities and the construction of several new units. The company disclosed that the total investment was $960 million. Tom Ryley, SVP of Refining said that “Suncor made a substantial investment to strengthen the integration between our oil sands operation in Northern Alberta and our Ontario-based businesses.” At peak, the construction project employed 1,600 workers. Suncor worked 5.8 million man hours without a lost time injury during this project.[8]
Notable Features of the Refinery
editHoudry Cracker
editThe Sarnia Refinery is home to a large Houdry Cat Cracker developed by Eugene Houdry, one of the only to ever be constructed. Houdry crackers were a precedent technology to Fluid Catalytic Crackers during WWII and served a critical role to the war effort.[9] The first large Houdry unit was completed at Sunoco's Marcus Hook Refinery in Pennsylvania in 1937[10] and Sunoco was one of the only operators of the technology after the 1940s. The Houdry Unit at Sarnia has been in continuous operation for nearly 70 years and may be the last of its kind in operation.[11]
Units
editAccording to the Oil & Gas Journal, Sarnia has the following units in operation:[12]
| Unit | In BPCD |
|---|---|
| Total Refinery Nameplate | 85,000 |
| Atmospheric Distillation | 85,000 |
| Vacuum Distillation | 26,730 |
| Houdry Cat Cracking | 16,668 |
| Hydrocracking | 32,078 |
| Naphtha Reforming | 22,957 |
| Naphtha Hydrotreating | 25,788 |
| Jet Hydrotreating | 5,975 |
| ULSD Hydrotreating | 43,588 |
| Other Hydrotreating | 6,743 |
| Alkylation | 5,503 |
| Aromatics Extraction | 13,209 |
| Hydrogen Production in mmscf/d | 41 |
The refinery is complex and has a Nelson Complexity Ratio of 10.8.[13]
Emissions Performance
editGreen House Gas Emissions
editAccording to filings made with the Government of Canada, the refinery emits roughly 800,000 tons per year of CO2.[14]
Note all data below can be found publicly at the Government of Canada's environment website.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) information
editFacility emissions for 2022
edit| Gas | Sum (tonnes) | Sum (tonnes CO2 eq ) |
|---|---|---|
| CO2 | 733,013.86 | 733,014 |
| CH4 | 112.32 | 3,145 |
| N2O | 14.31 | 3,791 |
| HFCs | 0 | 0 |
| PFCs | 0 | 0 |
| SF6 | 0 | 0 |
| Total : | 739,950 | |
| Year | Emissions
(tonnes CO2 equivalent) |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 806,546 |
| 2005 | 831,809 |
| 2006 | 749,801 |
| 2007 | 675,450 |
| 2008 | 663,658 |
| 2009 | 664,475 |
| 2010 | 643,314 |
| 2011 | 683,741 |
| 2012 | 640,711 |
| 2013 | 618,633 |
| 2014 | 656,749 |
| 2015 | 647,275 |
| 2016 | 672,649 |
| 2017 | 766,439 |
| 2018 | 771,838 |
| 2019 | 771,754 |
| 2020 | 763,022 |
| 2021 | 772,158 |
| 2022 | 739,950 |
Emissions from Accidents and Abnormal Operation - list
edit1996 - Oil Tanker Explosion while loading at the refinery.[15] See also video of the tanker fire on this link: Suncor Fire From American Side.
2003 - Vacuum Crude Unit fire.[16]
2019 - Small fire reported and extinguished.[17]
2022 - Oil spill into the Saint Clair River contained.[18]
See also the community tracking blog for Chemical Valley.[19]
References
edit- ^ "Sarnia refinery". Suncor Energy.
- ^ "Our Pipeline". Sun-Canadian Pipeline.
- ^ Morden, Paul (Aug 13, 2023). "Suncor reports spill at its Sarnia refinery on the St. Clair River". The Sarnia Observer.
- ^ "Sarnia Operations". Suncor.
- ^ "Pipeline Profiles: Enbridge Mainline". Canada Energy Regulator "CER". 4 September 2024.
- ^ "Richard George of Suncor Energy: Floating on a sea of sand". Institutional Investor. 2003.
- ^ "ConocoPhillips Refinery Sold for $150 Million". Denver Business Journal. 2003.
- ^ "Suncor Energy's Sarnia Refinery Completes Project to Improve Environmental Performance and Strengthen Integration With Oil Sands Operation". Can Oils. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ "Eugene Houdry". The Science History Institute.
- ^ "Houdry Process for Catalytic Cracking". American Chemical Society. 1996.
- ^ "Catalytic Processing of Residual Fuel Stock - Paper presented at the 5th World Petroleum Congress, New York, USA, May 1959". 5th World Petroleum Congress. 1959.
- ^ "Worldwide Refining". Oil & Gas Journal. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ kgi-admin (2023-04-18). "Refinery profile: Sarnia II cracking refinery, Canada". Offshore Technology. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ^ "Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program data search: facility information". Government of Canada. 2022.
- ^ "Sarnia, ON, Tanker Explosion, 7-19-1996 (Video) - John Weichsler". mifirephoto.smugmug.com. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
- ^ "Suncor Energy investigating cause of fire". Oil & Gas Journal. 2003-08-18. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
- ^ Morden, Paul (2019). "No injuries in small refinery fire in Sarnia". The Observer.
- ^ "St. Clair River oil spill from Canadian refinery contained, officials said". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2024-11-07.
- ^ "UPDATES ON SPILLS". AAMJIWNAANG SOLIDARITY AGAINST CHEMICAL VALLEY. 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2024-11-06.