Founded in 1968 and based in Muskiz, Biscay, Petróleos del Norte, S.A. (Petronor) is one of the largest refineries in Spain.
Petronor plays a key role in the supply of petroleum products, including petrol, diesel, paraffin and heating oil.
It was precisely because of the change in demand for fuel oil and the URF project to adapt the refinery’s production structure, which took place in 2011, that Envira began its collaboration with Petronor for the supply of instrumentation and the annual preventive and corrective maintenance of the San Julián and Las Carreras air quality monitoring stations.
Coke Plant or Fuel Oil Reduction Unit
The Coke Plant (URF), inaugurated in 2011 and considered the largest industrial investment in the Basque Country, has allowed Petronor to drastically reduce the production of fuel oil and increase the production of other petroleum products with higher added value, such as propane, butane, petrol and diesel.
Desulphurisation, a technique that consists of reducing or eliminating the sulphur content in various petroleum products, is part of the process of producing cleaner and more environmentally friendly fuels.
Petronor Air Quality Stations
As a result of the previous production change and in compliance with the Integrated Environmental Permit, Petronor contracted Envira for the supply and corrective and preventive maintenance of a new air quality cabin in the San Julián neighbourhood.
San Julián Air Quality Station
Located at the entrance to the town of San Julián, this cabin is equipped with analysers for pollutant parameters that meet the highest quality requirements.
It also has a data acquisition and communication system and a meteorological station, which is essential for the correct validation of the data collected by the analysers.
Las Carreras Air Quality Station
Years later, and in accordance with the review of the Integrated Environmental Permit granted to Petronor in 2018, Envira supplied new analysers to update the Las Carreras air quality station, incorporating the real-time recording of seven new parameters, added to the benzene, toluene and xylene compounds already monitored for years.
Muskiz and Abantos stations
In 2019, the Muskiz and Abantos monitoring stations were upgraded and new measuring equipment was installed to complement the existing instrumentation.
Petronor now has an air quality network consisting of a total of 4 stations (San Julián, Las Carreras, Muskiz and Abanto) to monitor its activities and record the same parameters at all of them.
Preventive and corrective maintenance of the AQMS
The collaboration agreement between Petronor and Envira also includes the preventive and corrective maintenance of the air quality stations in San Julián and Las Carreras, to ensure that they continue to operate at optimum levels.
To this end, all the necessary maintenance will be carried out to comply with the requirements of the Technical Instruction for the Installation, Field Operation and Continuous Quality Control of the analysers connected to the Basque Air Quality Control Network.
Our comprehensive maintenance plans include services such as:
- Verification and adjustment of instrumentation and auxiliary equipment.
- Calibration of analysers and ancillary equipment.
- Repair or replacement of analysers and rapid response to any malfunction of the installed instrumentation or auxiliary systems.
In addition, our technicians resolve incidents within very short timescales and provide technical assistance in the use and maintenance of instrumentation.
