The future of petroleum refining: transform now or later? Part 1
Business and legislative uncertainties hinder global refiners in balancing immediate profitability with long-term sustainability when revamping for the energy transition
Diana Brown and Thomas Yeung Hydrocarbon Publishing Company
T he global petroleum refining industry faces immense pressure. The accelerating energy transition, stricter environmental regulations, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties are challenging traditional business models. This raises a critical question for refiners: should they trans - form their plants into diversified energy centres now or wait for a more opportune time? Recognising that survival and long-term prosperity hinge on a holistic approach, this discussion centres on three inter - connected and critical pillars: profitability, sustainability, and flexibility. 1 Refiners must not only meet evolving environ - mental mandates and societal expectations but also maintain and enhance their financial performance in an increasingly competitive market. Furthermore, the ability to adapt oper - ations and product portfolios in response to shifting energy demands and regulatory changes is paramount. Profitability enhancement in a refinery can be achieved by energy savings and productivity improvements. In many regions throughout the world, energy costs account for up to half of refinery operating expenditure. While this makes maximising energy efficiency a high priority in these regions, it is also important in areas with low energy costs as refin - ers seek to lower CO₂ emissions and to reduce their carbon footprints. Meanwhile, the modern refining landscape is characterised by increasing complexity, driven by factors such as evolving product demand, stricter environmental regulations, and the imperative for cost-competitiveness. In this dynamic environment, achieving sustainable prof - itability necessitates a relentless focus on enhancing pro - ductivity through optimisation of individual unit operations, minimisation of waste, and maximisation of output. Energy management Refinery operations exhibit varying energy intensities. Excluding hydrogen and sulphur, lubes production has the highest overall energy intensity, followed by isomerisation, alkylation, catalytic reforming, and hydrocracking. Due to volume, atmospheric crude distillation and hydrotreating consume the most energy, followed by catalytic reforming, vacuum distillation, and alkylation. In terms of fuel use per barrel, isomerisation ranks second after lubes, then asphalt, catalytic reforming, and deasphalting. Alkylation con - sumes the most steam, followed by isomerisation, catalytic
reforming, hydrotreating, and hydrocracking. Electricity consumption per barrel is highest for lubes production, then hydrocracking, alkylation, thermal cracking, and hydrotreat - ing (excluding sulphur). The global refining industry is innovating with advanced technologies, data utilisation, and a focus on environmental sustainability and decarbonisation. Refiners are highly rec - ommended to conduct unit-by-unit assessments for energy savings and productivity improvements: • Crude distillation: Address hydraulic limitations; explore membrane technologies. • Delayed coking: Improve steam generation, heat recovery from overhead vapours, and main fractionator efficiency. • Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC): Optimise pumparound, revamp debutanisers, recover heat/hydrogen from off-gas, and use power recovery. The modern refining landscape is characterised by increasing complexity, driven by factors such as evolving product demand, stricter environmental regulations, and the imperative for cost-competitiveness • Hydrotreating: Enhance middle-distillate hydrotreater efficiency, use dividing-wall columns for naphtha hydro - treaters, and replace steam turbines. • Hydrocracking: Implement online cleaning, utilise hot flue gas, employ reciprocating compressors for hydrogen, opti - mise catalyst selection, apply advanced process control, and use real-time optimisation and power recovery. • Catalytic reforming: Address fired-heater capacity/effi - ciency and heat load rebalancing. • Alkylation: Explore solid acid technology to eliminate refrigeration and simplify acid handling. • Hydrogen plant: Analyse energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions, assess feed impact on steam reformers, reduce export-steam production, and consider green hydrogen to replace steam methane reforming (SMR).
51
PTQ Q4 2025
www.digitalrefining.com
Powered by FlippingBook