Standard recontact & fractionation
Tail gas recycle
Light ends recycle
Fuel gas
High-purity H
Net vapour (H 2 enriched)
Vapour
PSA
Recycle vapour
Tail gas
Reformate LPG
Reactor e uent
Separation
Recontacting
Fractionation
Liquid
Liquid (C + enriched)
UOP RecoveryMax system
Lean gas recycle
Fuel gas
High-purity H
Lean gas
Net vapour (H 2 enriched)
Vapour
RecoveryMax system
LPG
Recycle vapour
Net gas compression
Fractionation
Reactor e uent
Separation
Reformate
Liquid
Liquid (C + enriched)
Figure 5 RecoveryMax b olt- o n system configured for the naphtha catalytic reforming product recovery section
In some areas of the world today, such as the European Union, the additional recovery of LPG can be significantly more valuable than the improvement of fuel gas quality. The ability to recover this LPG as a final product and use it to offset natural gas purchases further down the value chain can be quite valuable as a source of national energy security. For a typical refinery with a 40,000 BPD (1,660 kmta) Platforming unit, this could amount to avoiding up to 85,000 metric tons per year of Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions. Looking at this project through the lens of the Six Efficiencies framework, the addition of RecoveryMax pro - vides these benefits: • Carbon efficiency : $7 MM (NPV) due to increased LPG and reformate production and recovery • Hydrogen efficiency: $43 MM (NPV) due to increased recovery of hydrogen • Utility efficiency : -$5 MM (NPV) as a result of additional power consumption • Emissions efficiency: $32 MM (NPV) as a result of reduced CO₂ emissions if CO₂ avoidance is valued at $50/mt. • Water efficiency: Not impacted appreciably as there is no additional demand or reduction on the use of cooling water, boiler feed water, or steam generation • Capital efficiency: Adding the RecoveryMax system is expected to have an estimated erected cost of $9 MM ($8 MM as NPV) for this refiner. As summarised in Table 1 , the increased recovery of hydrogen, LPG, and reformate for this 40,000 BPD (1,660 kmta) Platforming unit improves the facility’s NPV by $36M. If CO₂ avoidance is valued at $50 per metric ton, the NPV boost attributable to RecoveryMax approaches $68M. If CO₂ avoidance is valued at €100/ton, the NPV approaches €105M (October 2022 €1 = US$0.99). Meeting goals Reducing emissions from new and existing assets is the major challenge facing refineries and petrochemical
Parameters influencing increased NPV
Parameters
RecoveryMax Flowscheme
Conventional recovery scheme
Hydrogen, kmta LPG, kmta Reformate, kmta Off-gas, kmta EEC, $MM Utility, $MM/yr NPV from process improvements, $MM CO₂ emission (Scope 1 & 2), kmta CO₂ credit, $MM/yr NPV including CO₂ credit, $MM Notes/Assumptions: 1: 40,000 bpsd Platforming unit with 104 RON 57 39 1492 76 Base Base Base Base Base Base 2: CO₂ reduction credit $50/MT. 3: 8400 hours operation per year. 4. Conventional recovery case includes once-through PSA 5. NPV is for 15 years at 10% discount rate basis
64 65 1494 41 +9 +0.7 +36.7 (85) +4.2 +68.6
Utility price basis: 1: Fuel gas: $4/MMBtu. 2: H₂ price: $1100/mt. 3: Electricity: $0.08/Kwh.
Table 1
recovery of more hydrogen can reduce the demand on the steam methane reformer (SMR). Since the SMR typically is one of the largest emitters of CO₂ in a refinery, reducing the demand on this unit favour - ably impacts Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Alternately, if the refinery sources hydrogen from a third party, this increased recovery would result in buying less from ‘over the fence’, reducing both costs and Scope 2 emissions. Improved LPG recovery also can positively impact the refinery’s fuel gas quality in terms of carbon content. This makes the fired heaters become more efficient with respect to CO₂ emission for the same amount of energy input, reducing the complex’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
56
PTQ Q1 2023
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