A Study of Energy Intensity and Carbon Intensity from Olefin Plants in Thailand

Wasamon Chuapet,Thanapol Tantisattayakul,Nantamol Limphitakphong,Premrudee Kanchanapiya,Orathai Chavalparit,A.J Arumugham,R.K Goyal,M Kocisko,W.A Yusmawiza,X Qiu,M.M Ulkhaq

doi:10.1051/matecconf/20166814002

Abstract

This research is aimed to estimate energy consumption and the greenhouse gases emission from olefins production process in Thailand and to analysis its correlation between energy intensity and carbon intensity. The results of five olefin case study plants showed that direct energy use of olefins production was about 87% of total energy consumption. The greatest amount of energy demand was supplied for fuel combustion in manufacturing processes. The olefin plants using gas feedstock could operate with less amount of energy consumed as the average energy intensity (EI) of 23.88 GJ/ton of olefin produced, whereas plants of olefin produced from steam cracking of liquid feedstock had the average EI of 33.21 GJ/ton of olefin produced. Greenhouse gas emission from olefin plants using gas feedstock were consistent with the result of EI. The carbon intensity (CI) from olefin plants using gas feedstock (0.98 tCO 2 -eq./ton of olefin produced) was lower than the plants using liquid feedstock (2.01 tCO 2 -eq./ton of olefin produced). The T-test function used to reflect the correlation between EI and CI emphasized that the carbon intensity was significantly correlated with the intensity of energy (r = 0.9564 and p = 0.05).

Highlights

The main cause of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases from industry sector [1], mainly due to burning fossil fuels to produce energy and products
The proportion of greenhouse gas emissions from industry sector was accounted for 21% of total global emissions, whereas 23% of that emissions contributed from petrochemical industry [5] due to the industrial use of fuel oil and natural gas as raw material and fuel in the production process
Olefins production using liquid feedstock requires greater amount of energy than using steam cracking of gas feedstock because the more number of carbon atoms in naphtha (512 atoms) absolutely needs the greater energy for breaking down the carbon-carbon bonds of long chain hydrocarbons into the simpler ones than olefins produced from steam cracking of ethane which consists of only 2 carbon atoms

Summary

Introduction

The main cause of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases from industry sector [1], mainly due to burning fossil fuels to produce energy and products. In 2005, the proportion of global energy consumption from industry sector was up to 33% of total final energy consumption in petrochemical industry about 34 EJ [4]. The proportion of greenhouse gas emissions from industry sector was accounted for 21% of total global emissions, whereas 23% of that emissions contributed from petrochemical industry [5] due to the industrial use of fuel oil and natural gas as raw material and fuel in the production process. In 2006 the demand of energy and raw materials in petrochemical industry was about 10% of total global final energy consumption, representing 30% of total final energy consumption in the industry sector [6]

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