Successful commissioning of petcoke silo at Rijeka Refinery

Major upgrade project

The fully automated petcoke silo is part of an extensive upgrade project by INA, a major European oil company, that turns the Rijeka Refinery into one of the most modern refineries in Europe. The substantial investments include a new Delayed Coker Unit (DCU), the reconstruction of existing units and a totally new seaport, increasing the overall complexity of the refinery. The coker unit, which produces petcoke from the carbon residue of crude oil, was commissioned in early September 2026. In the same month, the petcoke Eurosilo was successfully commissioned, using the first petcoke from the DCU.

Saving valuable space

Saving space was decisive in choosing the Eurosilo system. The ground space at the plant site was already fully occupied and now accommodates petcoke production alongside the existing production of crude oil derivatives. Jan-Willem Hanskamp, Manager Project Department at ESI, explains: ‘The petcoke silo is a buffer station between the continuous output of the refinery and the loading of bulk carriers at set intervals. Thanks to the small footprint, as a result of the integrated the store-and-forward function, the Eurosilo could be positioned in the narrow space at the existing running plant between the coker unit and the seaport.’