Ecopetrol's refinery in Barrancabermeja celebrates its 102nd anniversary on Monday, with the commissioning of its new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), which improves the quality of authorized discharges into the waters of the Magdalena River, which is a milestone in the company's roadmap to be water neutral by 2045.

The WWTP, in which US$143 million was invested, has an oily and industrial water treatment system that separates fats, oils and solid material, to ensure compliance with environmental regulatory parameters for discharges to surface water bodies.

Its state-of-the-art units make it possible to reuse industrial water for different processes, while reducing the abstraction of fresh water to contribute to the sustainability of water resources in the regions where the company operates.

'From the refinery, we ratify Ecopetrol's commitment to caring for the planet and all of Colombia's natural resources. We take care of and defend the Magdalena River because we are aware of its importance for the life and well-being of riverside communities,' said Carlos Guillermo Garcia, manager of the Barrancabermeja refinery.

Progress in energy transition

The Barrancabermeja refinery is the most important refining and petrochemical center in the country, with a maximum processing capacity of 246,000 barrels of oil per day, which are transformed into fuels, aromatics, asphalt, varsol, paraffins, lubricating oils and polyethylene, among other fundamental products for the industrial sector. During the 2024-2026 period, the refinery will execute investments of more than $4 billion, focused on guaranteeing the country's energy security and sovereignty, and the transition to cleaner fuels.

This year, it will technologically improve the Moderate Hydrocracking Plant, with the purpose of delivering diesel of 10 parts per million (PPM) of sulfur in a sustained manner for the entire country and will implement new strategies to strengthen petrochemical production by taking advantage of its installed capacity.

In addition, it will continue to make progress in the diversification of the energy matrix through low-emission businesses as a lever for the decarbonisation of its processes, which is why it is working on the maturation of the following projects: 'La Iguana' solar farm: it will have a capacity of 26 MWp (Megawatts peak) with 43 thousand state-of-the-art panels, to achieve a reduction of 18 thousand tons of CO2. This reduction would only be achieved with the planting of 800,000 trees. It is expected to become operational in May 2025.

Biomass Unit: with clean energy generation capacity up to 25 MW/h (Megawatt hours) that would potentially have a processing of vegetable waste to reduce 158 thousand tons of CO2 per year. The energy that this plant will produce could meet the household consumption of electricity for a city like Manizales.

Sustainable aviation fuel: a unit with a load capacity of 6,000 barrels per day will be designed to produce fuel from vegetable oils, with the alternative of incorporating biomass and other feedstocks later.

Hydrogen: two industrial-scale projects are maturing to enable the production of low-emission hydrogen with a focus on the refinery's own operations.

Circular propylene: since the end of 2023, small volumes of pyrolytic oil from recycled plastic have been incorporated into one of the refinery's cracking units, and in synergy with Esenttia, propylene and circular polypropylene are already being produced, used in the manufacture of flexible packaging that packages different food products.

In this way, the Barrancabermeja refinery ratifies its commitment to the energy transition and to the production of fuels and industrial products of the highest quality, which the productive sector in Colombia demands.

Contact:

Email: notificacionesjudicialesecopetrol@ecopetrol.com.co

(C) 2024 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire