PTI seeks partners to upscale 200litres refinery to commercial

The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) is shopping for partners to upscale its 200 litres per day modular refinery to a commercial plant.

Its Principal and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Henry Adebowale made this known yesterday in Abuja during the press conference on the 3rd Biennial International Conference on Hydrocarbon Science & Technology.

The theme of the conference, which will be held on October 23rd to 24th in Abuja, he said, is “The Future of the Oil and Gas Industry: The Challenges, Opportunities and Developments.”

On the refinery, he noted that “We at the institute have built up our own (refinery). Now, what is next is to scale it up to find a way to make it commercial.”

He noted that as a training and development institute, PTI has in the last few years been working on the development of technology in modular refinery space.

Adebowale disclosed that the concept is being developed to train artisanal refiners, who have no skills.

Once the refinery is upscaled, according to him, the next stage will be teaching the artisanal refiners.

He added that “What we have today is people who know next to nothing about refining.

“They go to the bush and to the creeks and begin to break pipes and boil crude oil.

“No, we are doing it differently by training them and equipping them with the necessary skills that will enable them to contribute meaningfully to the economy.”

Speaking, Director of Research and Development Dr. Tina Osichei

noted that the institute has the modular refinery template that is a demonstration wing which is about getting the oil and all the processes. “We are using it for training,” she said.

The essence of the modular refinery is to train the artisanal refiners on all the processes from crude to products.

She noted that PTI is shopping for partners to upscale the refinery beyond 200 litres.

“But I must say we are looking for partners so that we scale up beyond 200 litres,” said

According to her, the conference will discuss the issue of Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) in one of the panel sections.

She said since the technology is new to the country, it must be included in its curriculum for people to understand the latest technology in the industry.

Transportation, said the director, is another aspect towards cleaner energy.

In Nigeria since the main fuel is the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) petrol, she revealed that the PTI is partnering with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to come up with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered tricycles.

She said this will be in line with the Federal Government Decade of Gas policy and emphasis on gas, which is a cleaner energy source than crude oil.

Osichei noted that the synergy on CNG powered tricycles will result in the reduction in the volume of fuel consumption and carbon emission into the atmosphere.

She also revealed that PTI is commencing a research on the absorbent that can increase the duration of the gas and make it last longer in the bikes and tricycles.

Her words: “We are starting a research so that when those stations are operational, those bikes or tricycles are in the market, we have absorbent that absorbs the gas and releases slowly so that you don’t have to keep refilling often.”

At the conference, she said there  will be four panel sections.

The NNPCL Academic Petroleum Technology Development Fund is partnering with PTI in the conference that the two Ministers of State for Petroleum Resources are scheduled to attend in Abuja.