Nigerian researcher builds world’s first modular refinery

Godwin Joseph Igwe, a professor of chemical engineering and pioneer director of Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals, Institute of Petroleum Studies (CGRP/IPS), University of Port Harcourt, has successfully installed and running what he described as the world’s first modular refinery.

Igwe, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) chair of Gas Processing Engineering, World Bank McNamara Fellow (USA), and Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellow (Germany), says modular refineries are the solution to Nigeria’s perennial fuel scarcity, due to constant supply glitches.

 According to Igwe, who is also the president/CEO of Technology Transfers Inc., Newark, USA, his modular refinery is the only one, not only in Nigeria, in Africa, but the whole world; saying that it “demonstrates that nations can rise by harnessing their citizen’s intellectual capacity and potentiality to attain greatness in the world to become global leaders.”

In an exclusive interview with BusinessDay from his CGRP/IPS base at the University of Port Harcourt, he said, “I am very proud of my achievements here. In 2011, I was invited from the USA to Nigeria by the 7^th Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, to assist in establishing a refining and petrochemical centre. I accomplished this as pioneer Director of the Centre for Gas, Refining & Petrochemicals (CGRP). The assignment has been completed, and the Centre is self-sustaining, and has been creating value for the last 4 years.”

 The professor of Chemical Engineering informed that his next assignment was accidental and transformative; adding that “we were funded by a benevolent Nigerian corporation to establish a building infrastructure and a laboratory, in addition to installing a pilot modular refinery.  Within a space of 6 – 12 months, I set up a two-storey building infrastructure with offices, lecture halls, auditorium, and laboratories.”

He said: “I ordered and installed a pilot modular refinery (for teaching, training, research and training) (not for commercial purposes), and the petroleum products created from this innovative effort are documented and demonstrated in a document for all to see. Now, if an individual could accomplish this within 6-12 months, imagine what the government could achieve with its vast resources?”

Igwe, whose Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals, Institute of Petroleum Studies has successfully organized four international conferences in Port Harcourt, on finding solutions to Nigeria’s oil and gas industry problems and maximizing the vast opportunities to benefit the country’s larger population, insisted that modular refinery model is the blueprint that should be scaled up because it is reproducible.

He disagreed with recent notions being canvassed by some experts that modular refineries were value destroying and can never be profitable because a barrel of fuel oil is worth less than a barrel of crude oil; prone to limited capacity utilization that they are not able to produce enough petrol to satisfy local demand, among others.

To all this, Igwe said: “Any project involving a modular refinery must carefully evaluate the target market demand and required product slate. This has to be part of the initial project evaluation and design of the modular refinery.  The alternative value of the crude oil is export. Historically the value of refined products is always greater than the crude oil itself.”

He also insisted that “there is no inherent reason that a modular refinery should have limited capacity utilization.  The capacity utilisation will be defined by the quality of the equipment built, the training of the operating personnel, the training of the maintenance personnel and the dedication to maintain the facilities, and supply of the crude oil and other site utilities.  This all starts with the design of the project and a strong understanding of the properties of the crude oil.”

The UniPort Chemical Engineering professor therefore, suggested that “we (should) encourage self-reliance and diversification to maximize our production of petroleum products through modular refineries.  We need more doers, not talkers, more hands-on professionals, more manufacturers than consumers.  We have been able to ignite interest by creating innovative ways to bring awareness through modular refineries to end fuel scarcity in Nigeria.”

He equally called on the Federal Government to fund and invest in modular refineries using the N3.3 trillion unremitted sum from NNPC and other agencies; the $20 billion accusation by former CBN governor; the missing N500 billion SURE-P claims for oil subsidy; $5.74 billion crude oil revenue as a result of NNPC’s shady deals with marketers; N847.94 million NNPC paid itself; $1.1 billion round-tripping involving Federal Government and two international oil companies; the Farouk Lawan-led House Ad-hoc committee unaccounted $6.8 billion oil revenue; the $32 billion oil revenue lost to NNPC’s mismanagement of domestic crude allocation; how NNPC discretionary spending from domestic crude oil sale revenue skyrocketed, exceeding $6 billion a year for the 2011 to 2013 period; revenue between 2004 and 2014 from sales of Okono crude with volumes of over 100 million barrels, with an estimated value of $12.3 billion not forwarded to treasury.

“We can fund the 25 currently licensed private hydrocarbon processing plants approved by DPR, and more, with these huge sums in all the 36 states.  It is reassuring to note that the $1 million in the current guidelines for establishment of refineries in Nigeria is no longer a requirement, and that the licenses of all private refineries, both conventional and modular, would be valid until 2017.  Guarantee of crude oil feedstock supply should also be considered and approved,” Igwe said.