Flint Hills Resources' Pine Bend Refinery recently completed upgrades of more than $400 million in new technology and efficiency improvement projects that will help the refinery continue to lower emissions while producing more of the fuel and other products people need and use every day. The completed projects include one of the world's largest applications of a technology that converts a traditional source of air pollution into fertilizer, a state-of-the-art combined heat and power system that satisfies much of the refinery's power needs, and more efficient heating elements that improve production while lowering emissions.
The projects are also expected to further improve Pine Bend's operating efficiency, which is already in the top of the first quartile of all U.S. refineries.
The Pine Bend Refinery supplies most of the transportation fuels used in Minnesota and a significant portion of the fuels used throughout the upper Midwest. It also produces other essential products such as asphalt, home heating fuels and raw materials used in a wide range of manufacturing processes, including fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and plastics.
"These projects help continue a 20-year trend of lowering key emissions, a relentless focus on safety and a constant desire to improve the efficiency of our operations," said Geoff Glasrud, vice president and manufacturing manager for the Pine Bend Refinery. "We are thrilled to get these projects up and running as we continue to find new and innovative ways to produce the fuels and other products people need while minimizing our emissions and protecting the environment."
The projects, many of which followed years of planning and development, required an average of 1,000 contractors working on-site most days.
Since 1997, the Pine Bend Refinery has lowered emissions of traditional criteria pollutants by approximately 70 percent, while increasing production to help meet demand for transportation fuels. The refinery has reduced total on-site emissions in 11 of the past 15 years, and its emissions per barrel are approximately 20-percent lower than other U.S. refineries. In the past five years, Pine Bend has improved its energy efficiency by 10 percent, advancing it into the first quartile of all U.S. refineries. The refinery's efficiency and environmental performance are expected to continue to improve as a result of these new projects.
Located 17 miles southeast of Minneapolis, Pine Bend has a capacity of 345,000 bpd and is among the cleanest, most efficient and safest oil refineries in the country. Flint Hills Resources directly and indirectly supports more than 4,000 Minnesota jobs and has invested nearly $1.7 billion in upgrades and improvements to its Minnesota facilities since 2010. With 1,000 full-time employees, the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend Refinery is one of the largest employers in Dakota County.
For more information, visit www.fhr.com or call (713) 740-3900.
