Irving Oil is announcing its Dehexanizer Unit at the refinery is now operational. The unit is expected to reduce benzene content in gasoline produced by the refinery by 30 per cent. The $100 million Dehexanizer Unit will ensure compliance with new US EPA regulation requiring lower benzene in gasoline.

The Dehexanizer Unit includes a 185’ distillation column that isolates benzene in the upper stream of the column. The upper stream containing benzene will be sent to another existing unit for further reduction.

Construction of the unit began in 2009, with a peak labour force of 250 people. Total workforce hours exceeded 500,000 without a single lost time injury. The success of this project, which came in under-budget and on-schedule, is testament to the skilled workers who contributed to this project.


“It’s a privilege to operate in our community and we take our environmental requirements very seriously,” says Mark Sherman, General Manager of the Irving Oil Refinery. “We are always striving to improve the environment in which we live and work, and the Dehexanizer Unit strengthens that commitment.”

Irving Oil is committed to continually enhancing the environmental performance of its operations through further investment and energy conservation projects. The company is constructing a $26 million Vapour Recovery Unit at Irving Oil’s East Saint John terminal, which is anticipated to reduce VOC emissions by 90 per cent when loading gasoline on to marine ships.

Other environmental initiatives at the refinery include capturing carbon dioxide through a partnership with Praxair and sulphur dioxide reduction technology that has reduced SO2 emissions at the refinery by more than 85 per cent over the last eight years. Irving Oil also conducts annual fugitive emissions and tank seal replacement programs to prevent and reduce VOC emissions.

See the Saint-John Irving Oil refinery