Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE in Lagos, Nigeria, reported Sept. 30 that it’s picked selected Honeywell Technologies UOP to provide process technologies, licensing, engineering services, proprietary catalysts, equipment and digital solutions for its planned 700,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Kenya. Once complete, the facility is expected to become the world’s largest single-train refinery.

This present project builds on nearly a decade of collaboration between the two companies, and leverages proven engineering designs that Honeywell Technologies developed for Dangote’s refinery in Lekki, Nigeria. Dangote’s ability to draw on these established designs will help reduce the development schedule for the new facility by nearly two years, which is nearly 30% sooner than typical new facilities. The Kenya refinery will also rely on Honeywell’s refining and petrochemical processing solutions to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and polypropylene. Consequently, it will have the flexibility to process a variety of crude oils, from light to heavy grades, enabling it to process feedstocks from multiple regions, and limit reliance on any one source.

"Dangote is committed to expanding Africa's refining capacity and strengthening long-term energy security for the continent, while also serving growing export markets," says Aliko Dangote, president of Dangote. “Our proven collaboration with Honeywell Technologies will enable us to bring the facility online faster, and provide the flexibility to process a broad range of crude oils. Together, these capabilities will help us meet growing global demand for fuels and petrochemical products.”

Similar to the Lekki refinery, Honeywell’s project scope for the new Kenya refinery is expected to be approximately $300 million.

"Large-scale refinery projects require a combination of proven technologies, engineering expertise and digital capabilities," adds Rajesh Gattupalli, president of Honeywell Technologies UOP. "During our longstanding relationship with Dangote, we developed proven, large-train engineering designs that can be applied to the Kenya refinery to reduce time-to-market. We’ll also provide modifications that enable the refinery to process a range of crude feedstocks, helping it improve operational flexibility, and reducing reliance on any single crude source or region."