Minimize refinery energy losses

While talk of reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions tends to dominate headlines, it’s the actions we take now on energy consumption and usage that can affect real, positive change, and reduce your bottom line. This is especially true in refining, where energy is normally identified as the second largest operating cost behind crude oil feedstock. And as the cost of that energy fluctuates around the globe— natural gas is currently cheaper in the U.S. but at a premium in places like Europe and Asia—the need to optimize its usage throughout the refinery is on the rise.

Changing feedstock can stress the process 
Refineries are taking advantage of discounted crude feedstocks that may not totally match the capabilities of the refinery. This puts additional strain on process systems not originally designed to handle these fluctuating operating conditions and increases the complexity of balancing the necessary energy loads across the sprawling physical footprint of the refinery, all while multiple process units vie for the same sources of energy to operate.

Additionally, processing varying crude oils can accelerate the deterioration of equipment performance. This not only forces operators to increase energy usage when equipment performance starts to lag, it can ultimately lead to costly shutdowns and turnarounds when this equipment fails—dealing a substantial setback to a refinery’s productivity and operating margins.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure 
The challenges don’t end there. Many refineries lack the necessary flow measurements to avoid unnecessary losses in energy usage. Varying fuel gas properties and fluctuating steam demand can be troublesome because the root causes are difficult to pinpoint and they lead to overly conservative operations that result in producing excess steam beyond requirements just in case more is suddenly needed. When too much steam is present, it must then be vented or condensed.

Lower your energy usage through optimization
Historically, the traditional methods of dealing with these types of concerns would often involve labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive steps. But by understanding these constraints, including the relatively new ones such as varying crude feeds and product slates, refinery managers are in a unique position to evaluate new technologies and opportunities that exist today to help reduce overall energy consumption in a much more timely, safe, and cost-effective manner.

                Rompetrol improved recovery
                of their most valuable fuel
                products saving $1,890,000 per year.

These include solutions that not only enable refinery staff to better plan and prepare for the various crudes coming into the refinery, but give them greater visibility into equipment performance and help them better manage energy needs across the refinery. Other tools and technologies offer the ability to implement predictive diagnostics that give operators information about equipment degradation, provide real-time asset monitoring through wireless sensors and existing infrastructure, and receive real-time alerts for any detected issues. They are the kinds of innovative solutions that help the refinery plan ahead for maintenance prioritization. 

Better still, advanced technologies available today are now designed to more accurately and efficiently analyze the feedstocks coming into the refinery. This saves time, money, and energy usage as more reliable crude characterization translates to more informed decisions on how the refinery supplements its various feedstocks and how it optimizes its blends so that varying crude feeds and product slates work better with existing process equipment.

With Emerson, you’ll have the software solutions you need to automate the process of mapping and managing energy consumption across your refinery, as it is being consumed—so you can keep your people safe and meet regulations.