Befesa Desulfuración

Acid Plant Database March 31, 2020

Owner	Ineos Sulphur Chemicals
Location	Buen Pastor S-N Bo Luchana Barakaldo, Vizcaya Spain
Background	1941 - La Sociedad Española de Fabricaciones Nitrogenadas – SEFANITRO founded 1950 - Production started 1997 - Fertiberia (FB) acquired the entire ordinary shares, of 52.65%-Spanish state-owned Sefanitro (SF) for a sweetened 630 Spanish pesetas ($4.98 US) per share, or a total of 1.095 bil pesetas ($8.66 mil). Earlier FB completed a tender offer to acquire SF, by acquiring 1.633 mil ordinary shares, or 93.94% of SF's entire share capital. Originally, Fertiberia offered 500 pesetas ($3.90) per share, or a total of 869 mil pesetas ($6.77 mil). 2006 – Majority of site shutdown but acid plant continues to operate Also formerly Rontealde 1996 - Befesa Desulfuración was formed when it acquired 90% ownership of Rontealde in April 1996 when it acquired 40% of the shares to the company Metall Capital SA. Formerly Befesa Desulfuración www.befesa.es
Website	www.ineos.com
Plant	Old Plant	Barakaldo	Port of Bilbao
Coordinates*	43° 17' 20" N, 2° 58' 26" W	43° 17' 34" N, 2° 58' 40" W	43° 21' 31" N, 3° 3' 6" W
Type of Plant	Sulphur Burning	Sulphur Burning	Sulphur Burning
Gas Source	Elemental Sulphur	Elemental Sulphur	Elemental Sulphur
Plant Capacity	-	250,000 MTPA	350,000 MTPA (sulphuric acid and oleum) 940 MTPD Acid 250 MTPD Oleum
SA/DA	-	-	-
Emissions	-	-	-
Status	-	Shutdown	-
Year Built	-	2012	2012
Technology	-	-	MECS
Contractors	-	-	Licensee: Desmet Ballestra Constructors: Abeinsa
Remarks	-	-	-
	Befesa Desulfuración produces sulfuric acid and oleum using the residual sulfur recovered from petrochemical plants. It owns a plant that enables it to resolve the environmental problems associated with oil plants by applying the cleanest and safest processes. During 2009, 218,100 t of equivalent acid were produced, with an associated electricity generation of 49,900 MW, which, after deducting self-consumption, resulted in sales of 28,300 MWh of surplus electricity. It is worth noting that in May 2008 the land on which the desulfurization plant is located was sold pursuant to the town of Baracaldo’s (Vizcaya) Sefanitro Special Interior Reform Plan (Plan Especial de Reforma Interior Sefanitro). The plant is currently operating and the land will be handed over within a timeframe to guarantee that the business can be transferred to the new location.
Pictures
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General	The company Befesa Medio Ambiente was established in 1993 by several companies: Berzelius Umwelt Service (BUS), Duro Felguera, and Indumetal, which pooled their environmental assets in Spain into "Befesa". This resulted in the creation of the company Berzelius Felguera, Befesa, which then commenced its activities with the companies Aser (now Befesa Zinc Aser) and Rontealde (now Befesa Desulfuración) in Biscay, Prisma in Madrid, Cida Hidroquímica in Barcelona, and Felguera Fluidos in Gijon (Asturias). In addition, Prisma incorporated its subsidiaries Aurecan, in Huelva, and Alfagran (now Befesa Plásticos), in Murcia. Befesa has developed mainly through the acquisition of extremely interesting environmental companies and through the creation of other companies in order to undertake activities that were not being carried out in Spain at the time or, if they had been, it was not being done in an efficient manner. INEOS Sulphur Chemicals manufactures sulphuric acid and sulphur based chemicals across two sites in Europe with a combined capacity of over 600KT. We are the number 1 supplier of sulphuric acid in the UK and have been serving the UK market for over 40 years from our UK production facility in Runcorn (North West England).Our mainland European site is in Bilbao in Northern Spain. Built in 2011 it is the newest sulphuric acid plant in Europe and combines state-of-the-art sulphur burning technology with electricity co-generation.Between these two facilities we produce sulphuric acid in a range of concentrations from 77% to 100%. We also offer specialised sulphur chemicals including oleum 20, sulphur dioxide, stabilised sulphur trioxide and ultra-pure sulphuric acid.Our sulphur chemical products serve a broad spectrum of industries. From power generation, mining and automotive markets using commercial grades of acid, to the electronics and semi-conductor industry requiring our ultra-pure grade acids.INEOS Enterprises has invested in excess of £50 million in the past 5 years maintaining and improving our world class sulphuric acid manufacturing facilities and will continue to invest to ensure outstanding reliability, high quality products and exceptional service to our customers.
Reference	-
News	December 20, 2015 - Befesa intends to sell 100% of the shares of Befesa Valorización de Azufre, S.L.U (BVA) to INEOS Enterprises, a global manufacturer of petrochemicals, speciality chemicals and oil products. The parties have agreed not to disclose any financials.Befesa Valorización de Azufre´s activities are based on the recovery and reuse of residual Sulphur from the petrochemical industry, including energy generation. The plant, that has the capacity to treat 120,000 tonnes of sulphur and produce 350,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid and oleum, also generates approximately 90,000 megawatts of electricity per annum. November 23, 2012 - On 17 October, Mr Bernabé Unda, Regional Minister of Industry, Innovation, Trade and Tourism of the Basque Government, together with the Chairman of Befesa, Mr Port of Bilbaorties, opened the new sulphuric acid plant in the Exterior Port of Bilbao, which replaces the old plant that Befesa had in the nearby town of Barakaldo. The facility is a modern industrial plant that uses technology from the American company MECS-Monsanto, designed by its licensee, the Italian engineer Desmet Ballestra, and from General Electric, which supplied the turbo-generator. It was constructed as a turnkey project by Abeinsa. The continuous production process used by Befesa Valorización de Azufre generates sulphuric acid, fuming sulphuric acid (oleum) and electricity using heat recovered from the process, and is based on the recovery of desulphurisation waste from the petrochemicals industry (sulphur). These high quality products are characterised by their lack of impurities such as mercury, arsenic and other metals typically found in the waste acids that come from gas scrubbing in metal production. The plant currently employs 40 people and has a production capacity of 940 tonnes/day of sulphuric acid, which includes up to 250 tonnes/day of oleum. Annually it can produce up to 329,000 t of sulphuric acid equivalent. Furthermore, the heat recovered from the process is used to generate electricity using a turbo-generator with an installed capacity of 12.2 MWh. This equipment can generate up to 11.5 MWh of energy, equivalent to more than 96,000 MW per annum, of which 30,000 MW will be used by the plant and the rest will be sold to the grid. Thanks to its unrivalled location in the Exterior Port of Bilbao, Befesa Valorización de Azufre has outstanding communications that enable the entry of raw materials and the transport of its products by road, rail and ship. October 17, 2012 - Befesa Sulphur Valuation has inaugurated a sulphuric acid and oleum production plant in the Port of Bilbao parting from sulphur and other desulphurisation residues, which will be used in the cogeneration of electricity. The plant occupies 21,850 square metres on Dock AZ-1and the investment cost is 70 million euros.This facility has the capacity to treat 120,000 tonnes of sulphur and to produce 350,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid and oleum, which will allow the associated generation electricity of some 90,000 megawatts a year. Almost 30,000 megawatts of this electricity will be used in the facilities, while the remainder will be sold to the network. June 21, 2010 - Befesa, through its subsidiary Befesa Valorización de Azufre, S.L.U. (formerly Acoleq Químicos S.L.U.), has completed the non-recourse financing to construct and operate a new plant producing sulphuric acid from waste sulphur in the Port of Bilbao. The project, which will require an investment of €70 million, will be partly financed by a syndicate of banks comprising Banco Pastor, Cajasol, Banesto, Caja Rural de Navarra, Ipar Kutxa and Bankoa. Befesa will also invest capital from the sale of the land where its existing desulphurisation plant is currently located, which was sold in 2008 as part of the Sefanitro Interior Reform Special Plan of the municipality of Baracaldo (Vizcaya). It is worth noting that the project also has a €2.0 million loan from the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. The new plant, which will be located in the Autonomous Port of Bilbao in the municipality of Zierbena (Vizcaya), will focus on producing sulphuric acid and oleum from sulphur and desulphurisation waste, and will include electricity cogeneration. The plant, which will have the capacity to treat 120,000 tonnes of sulphur and produce 350,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid and oleum, will also generate approximately 90,000 megawatts of electricity per annum. The process of producing sulphuric acid and oleum from waste sulphur recovered from plants in the petrochemicals sector helps to manage the environmental impact from oil companies by using a cleaner and safer process. The new plant is expected to be operational in the last three months of 2011. Javier Molina, Chairman of Befesa, said “this operation demonstrates Befesa’s capacity and strength to finance and develop important infrastructures and projects focused on sustainable development using the best available technologies, which makes us a global leader in the recycling and management of industrial waste”.

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


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