Question
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Under what conditions do you see opportunities for blending petrochemical byproducts with refinery fuel feedstocks to lower conversion costs?
Apr-2024
Answers
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Ujjal Mukherjee, Lummus Technology,
Whenever a refinery is being integrated with a petrochemicals complex, the opportunity to upgrade low-value products from one unit to another increases. For example, the extremely low-value pyrolysis fuel oil from an ethylene unit is a good feedstock to a residue hydrocracking unit, where it will be converted to transportation fuels and/or petrochemical feedstock. Hydrogen from propane dehydrogenation, catalytic reforming, and ethylene units can significantly reduce the hydrogen production demand in the refinery.
When demand for gasoline is high, which is still the case in several parts of the developing world, the pyrolysis gasoline from the ethylene unit or reformate from an aromatics unit can offer good value, especially when the price of certain polymers is depressed. The C9+ aromatics from an ethylene unit can be recycled back to a hydrocracker to produce incremental jet or heavy naphtha.
Apr-2024
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