Refining-Petrochemicals Integration

Flashcards on refining and petrochemical integration concepts.

Crude oil refineries

Oriented to the production of transportation fuels with a minor side production of building blocks for the petrochemical industry.

Refiners

To improve margins and sustain profitability through integration with petrochemicals.

Determining factors for refinery configuration

Economics, type of crude processed, quantity and type of products, quality of fuel to be produced, and environmental regulations.

Classes of Refinery Configurations

Topping, Hydro-skimming, Conversion, Full Conversion, and Petrochemical Refinery.

Topping Refinery

Includes only Atmospheric Distillation Unit (ADU) and produces naphtha but no gasoline; designed to prepare feedstocks for petrochemical manufacture.

Hydro-skimming Refinery

Equipped with hydrotreating and Naphtha Reforming units.

Conversion Refinery

Equipped with Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU) + Catalytic Cracking Units, which produces light distillates and middle distillates.

Full Conversion Refinery

Equipped to process the vacuum residue into high-value products using the Delayed Coking Process.

Integrated Refineries

Equipped to upgrade its LPG or Naphtha into basic petrochemicals by the use of steam crackers and aromatics complex.

Primary drivers of Refinery-Petrochemicals Integration

Maximizing margins and improving competitiveness.

Steam cracker integrated with a refinery

Allows the flexibility to vary its feedstock and to optimize its production.

Refinery-Petrochemicals Integration

Constant evolution with significant chemical yield increase in the recent period.

Common ways refineries are integrated with petrochemicals production

Refinery integrated with steam cracker, refinery integrated with aromatics complex, and refinery integrated with steam cracker and aromatics complex.

Benefits of integrated facilities

Joint operations and maintenance, shared supporting services, and common safety, environmental, logistics systems.

Challenges facing Refining Industry

Variation in the character and properties of the feedstocks, stricter environmental constraints, stringent product specifications, expected decline in demand for oil-derived fuels, and increasing global demand for petrochemicals.

Key areas for flexible refining processes

CO2 neutrality (green footprint), maximal production of chemicals, zero waste generation, renewable energy integration, enhanced process efficiency, and multifunctional catalyst development.

Refinery of the Future

Versatility to process wider range of crude oil, development of economically efficient processes, development of new processes enabling >80 wt.% yield to chemicals from crude oil, and integration of new intelligent process.

Key concepts of the refinery of the future

Direct conversion of crude oil into chemicals.