Oil refining company ORLEN Lietuva in one of its production complexes started burning an emulsion diluted not by diesel fuel but water. This innovative fuel will enable Mažeikiai company to reduce environmental pollution and save almost 8,000 Litas a day.

Technologists of ORLEN Lietuva were looking for more ecological and cheaper alternative to the fuel required in oil refining process and created a new emulsion, in which instead of diesel fuel approximately 10 percent of water is mixed with heavy visbreaking residue*. Tests performed in LK-2 Complex proved that the emulsion is suitable for burning in heaters.

"Water allows to sprinkle fuel in the burner flare much better and more evenly. Due to higher combustibility emission of nitrogen oxides and quantity of hard particles in the flue gas lessens. It is a good product that is much frendlier to the environmet," – stated Viktoras Vasilavičius, the Company‘ Director of Production. He pointed out that by using the new emulsified fuel the refinery is saving almost 8,000 Litas a day.

Burning of the new fuel is one of the projects of Value Creation Program of ORLEN Lietuva. Next year the company is intended to seek recognition of this innovative fuel in order to increase the compatibility as well as the quality of Lithuanian production.

ORLEN Lietuva was the first company among the Baltic States, where continuous emission measuring system was implemented in 2008. The monitoring allow the company and officers of Department of Environment Protection to know every day a precise amount of pollutants emitted to the atmosphere.

* Visbreaking is a process, during which vacuum residue, a residual product of vaccum distillation of oil is being processed. The final product is viscous and without an additional treatment and dilution is not suitable for use as liquid fuel.