Abstract
This study of process heat source change in industrial conditions has been developed to aid engineers and energy managers with working towards sustainable production. It allows for an objective assessment from energetic, environmental, and economic points of view, thereby filling the gap in the systematic approach to this problem. This novel site-wide approach substantially broadens the traditional approach, which is based mostly on “cheaper” and “cleaner” process heat sources’ application and only takes into account local changes, while neglecting the synergic effect on the whole facility’s operations. The mathematical model employed assesses the performance change of all the affected refinery parts. The four proposed aromatic splitting process layouts, serving as a case study, indicate feasible heat and condensate conservation possibilities. Although the estimated investment needed for the most viable layout is over €4.5 million, its implementation could generate benefits of €0.5–1.5 million/year, depending on the fuel and energy prices as well as on the carbon dioxide emissions cost. Its economics is most sensitive to the steam to refinery fuel gas cost ratio, as a 10% change alters the resulting benefit by more than €0.5 million. The pollutant emissions generated in the external power production process contribute significantly to the total emissions balance.
Highlights
The oil and petroleum industry is among the most energy-intense industrial sectors
The resulting equipment cost was converted to total investment costs (TIC) by applying suitable Lang factors [48]
A simple payback period was calculated by dividing the TIC by the annual benefit, obtained from
Summary
The oil and petroleum industry is among the most energy-intense industrial sectors. Energy consumption in this sector in 2012 in OECD countries represented more than 7% of the total from industry [1]. The available literature states that a 10–20% energy consumption reduction is feasible in. Heat recuperation intensification [4,5], modern electromotor installations [6,7], advanced process control implementation [6,8], improvement of fuel gas management and fuel switching [5,8], and the use of new conversion technologies [8,9] are among the most promising measures to achieve the energy. Processes 2019, 7, 776 intensity reduction goal. Less tangible than direct energy cost reduction, is an associated cut in the GHG emissions [9,10] emitted from process heaters. The resulting benefits can be further enhanced if oxy-combustion is applied [14,15,16]
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