Oct-2022

Comprehensive energy efficiency improvement and benchmarking studies

Climate change due to global warming has made it obligatory for all nations to reduce their carbon emissions to save the Earth and environment and undertake various initiatives towards achieving net-zero carbon emission targets.

G Srivardhan And Vijay Yalaga
Engineers India Ltd

Article Summary

It is well established that fuel consumption by industries that include upstream (E&P) and downstream sectors, including oil refineries and petrochemicals, contribute substantially to carbon emissions. In this regard, the energy industry worldwide is mandated to achieve substantial emission reduction voluntarily or by adopting various schemes like carbon credit and energy certificates.

While carbon capture, sequestration, and utilisation are gaining momentum, reducing energy use through comprehensive energy efficiency improvement and benchmarking studies will directly contribute to maximising benefits with available assets or through minor modifications. EIL has significant experience in conducting energy audits and various benchmarking studies in refinery and petrochemical studies for domestic and International clients over the years.

Energy studies involve various activities, namely the collection of design and operating data/documents, data analysis and reconciliation using in-house tools, technical interactions and refinery site visits, identification and development of EnCon schemes and their broad-based feasibility for shortlisting of opportunities.

The opportunities can be categorised into quick-wins (QW), short-term (ST) schemes, medium-term (MT) schemes, and long-term (LT) schemes with reference to ease of implementation and capital investment. Based on preliminary feasibility studies, the short/medium-term schemes are being considered for implementation after detailed research, whereas the long-term schemes will become part of strategic initiatives.

The major potential energy-saving areas include optimising the operating parameters for feed and product slates, inter/intra unit heat integration, low-level heat recovery, the intervention of new technologies, rationalisation and upgradation of facilities with the best available technologies, steam and power network optimisation, and fired heater efficiency improvement.

Using the above approach, EIL has carried out various studies over the years and recently conducted a comprehensive study of 15 Indian PSU refineries and the Ruwais refinery in Abu Dhabi (ADNOC). Based on comprehensive energy studies, savings have been categorised as typical unit-wise energy savings or area-wise, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, respectively.

Further, conducting energy efficiency studies along with benchmarking and targeting strategies is another approach for identifying energy conservation potential within the constraints of operating plants. The benchmarking studies can be taken up for any key performance indexes (KPI), namely capacity utilisation, product quality upgradation, energy consumption reduction, or profit maximisation. The benchmarking further requires normalisation in some cases to neutralise the impact of factors not under the control of the operating plant. EIL has carried out the benchmarking exercise for various refineries in the past and recently conducted a benchmarking study for eight petrochemical plants in India.

As a total solutions company, EIL provides design, engineering, procurement, construction, and integrated project management services from ‘concept to commissioning’ and has developed capabilities in energy optimisation studies and benchmarking of industries covering the entire hydrocarbon value chain. It also provides specialist services such as heat and mass transfer equipment design, environmental engineering, specialist materials and maintenance, and plant ope rations and safety services.

Also, as part of its R&D endeavours, EIL has developed va    rious in-house tools/software and process models (EngRAGE for data analysis and reconciliation, and EngCHP for steam and power optimisation), which are extensively used in the studies. Further, EIL is constantly developing new technologies and implementing them in projects to help improve energy efficiency.

This short article appeared in the 2022 Refining India Newspaper, which you can view HERE