Louisiana Chemical Equipment Company

Used 53,000 tons per year (TPY) base oil plant designed by TEMEKA of Greece. Built in 1963. 17,000 TPY extra capacity of paraffin wax and other blended materials. The basic oils produced are classified under API Group 1, which includes oils with less than 90% saturated bonds and/or more than 0.03% sulfur content, with a Viscosity Index (VI) ranging between 80 and 120. The facility is organized into six processing sections: Furfural, MIBK, Oil Hydrotreating, Wax Hydrotreating, Wax Solidification, and Oil Blending. The Furfural Unit begins with heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO), which is processed in a vacuum distillation unit that operates at temperatures between 320–550 °C. This produces fractions optimized for oil production. These fractions are then directed to an extraction unit where furfural is used as a solvent to separate aromatic compounds (extracts) from paraffins (raffinate), which comprise both oil and wax components. The MIBK Unit serves as a dewaxing and de-oiling system, utilizing the raffinate stream from the Furfural Unit as feedstock. This stream is processed with methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) to separate it into oil and wax through a filtration process. In the Oil Hydrotreating Unit, the extracted oils undergo hydrotreatment to reduce sulfur content, while the Wax Hydrotreating Unit performs a similar function specifically for waxes. The Wax Solidification Unit takes liquid wax and pours it into chilled, slab-shaped molds to solidify the wax into its final form. Lastly, the Oil Blending Unit combines both in-house produced oils and imported oils to create finished oil products that meet specific customer requirements.