DAY ONE- Wednesday 10 March

  • Introduction and Objectives
    - Outline course objectives
    - Icebreaker to introduce delegates
    - Course methodology – interactive lectures, discussion, individual and group exercises
  • Introduction to Product Blending
    - Why blending of products is necessary and important, and its impact on the economics of refining
    - Significance of specifications, testing precision, blending margins
    - Concept of linear and non-linear blending
  • Fuel Oil Blending
    - European and Bunker fuel specifications
    - Fuel oil test methods, significance for fuel performance, and critical blending parameters
    - Concept of Blending Indices
    - Fuel oil stability
  • Exercise 1 - Fuel Oil Blending & Economics
    - Determine the optimum fuel oil blend, and then calculating the cost of correcting the blend
    - Valuing all of the potential fluxes
  • Jet Blending
    - Jet specifications
    - Jet test methods and significance for fuel performance
    - How CDU cut points change flash and freeze points

DAY TWO- Thursday 11 March

  • Diesel Blending
    - European and US specifications
    - Diesel test methods, significance for fuel performance and critical blending parameters
    - Additives to improve cold weather performance
  • Exercise 2 - Diesel Blending & Economics
    - There’s more to it than just sulphur
    - How much LCO can be blended into diesel?
  • Bio-Diesel
    - A threat or a promise?
    - Green diesel, GTL
  • What happens if you get it wrong?
    - Fuel Oil, Jet/Avgas, Diesel

DAY THREE- Friday 12 March

    • Gasoline Blending
      - European and US Specifications
      - Gasoline test methods, significance for fuel performance and critical blending parameters
      - Oxygenates (MTBE and Ethanol)
      - US gasoline RBOB– will this happen in Europe?
    • Exercise - Gasoline Blending & Economics
      - Why is gasoline more difficult to blend in 2009 than in the past?
      - Calculate a blend to meet European spec gasoline when Ethanol is added at the depot
    • What happens if you get it wrong?
      - Gasoline
    • Feedstock Blending
      - Why blend crude oil and how
      - Changing cutpoints vs blending components
    • Blending Technology in the Refinery
      - Software and systems for blending
      - Where does blend planning fit into the overall scheme
      - Tank farm hardware - Tank blending, in-line ratio control blending, in-line property control
      - Mixing, Sampling and analysis
      - Reblending and correcting
    • Performance Monitoring
      - If it’s never off-spec then the margins are too big
      - The costs of quality giveaway and choosing the wrong components