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Title: A comparative assessment of resource efficiency in petroleum refining

Abstract

Because of increasing environmental and energy security concerns, a detailed understanding of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the petroleum refining industry is critical for fair and equitable energy and environmental policies. To date, this has proved challenging due in part to the complex nature and variability within refineries. In an effort to simplify energy and emissions refinery analysis, we delineated LP modeling results from 60 large refineries from the US and EU into broad categories based on crude density (API gravity) and heavy product (HP) yields. Product-specific efficiencies and process fuel shares derived from this study were incorporated in Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET life-cycle model, along with regional upstream GHG intensities of crude, natural gas and electricity specific to the US and EU regions. The modeling results suggest that refineries that process relatively heavier crude inputs and have lower yields of HPs generally have lower energy efficiencies and higher GHG emissions than refineries that run lighter crudes with lower yields of HPs. The former types of refineries tend to utilize energy-intensive units which are significant consumers of utilities (heat and electricity) and hydrogen. Among the three groups of refineries studied, the major difference in the energy intensitiesmore » is due to the amount of purchased natural gas for utilities and hydrogen, while the sum of refinery feed inputs are generally constant. These results highlight the GHG emissions cost a refiner pays to process deep into the barrel to produce more of the desirable fuels with low carbon to hydrogen ratio.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
OSTI Identifier:
1247180
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1196343
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Published Article
Journal Name:
Fuel
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Fuel Journal Volume: 157 Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0016-2361
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Subject:
02 PETROLEUM; petroleum refinery; life-cycle analysis; energy efficiency; resource efficiency; greenhouse gas emissions

Citation Formats

Han, Jeongwoo, Forman, Grant S., Elgowainy, Amgad, Cai, Hao, Wang, Michael, and DiVita, Vincent B. A comparative assessment of resource efficiency in petroleum refining. United Kingdom: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2015.03.038.
Han, Jeongwoo, Forman, Grant S., Elgowainy, Amgad, Cai, Hao, Wang, Michael, & DiVita, Vincent B. A comparative assessment of resource efficiency in petroleum refining. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2015.03.038
Han, Jeongwoo, Forman, Grant S., Elgowainy, Amgad, Cai, Hao, Wang, Michael, and DiVita, Vincent B. 2015. "A comparative assessment of resource efficiency in petroleum refining". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2015.03.038.
@article{osti_1247180,
title = {A comparative assessment of resource efficiency in petroleum refining},
author = {Han, Jeongwoo and Forman, Grant S. and Elgowainy, Amgad and Cai, Hao and Wang, Michael and DiVita, Vincent B.},
abstractNote = {Because of increasing environmental and energy security concerns, a detailed understanding of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the petroleum refining industry is critical for fair and equitable energy and environmental policies. To date, this has proved challenging due in part to the complex nature and variability within refineries. In an effort to simplify energy and emissions refinery analysis, we delineated LP modeling results from 60 large refineries from the US and EU into broad categories based on crude density (API gravity) and heavy product (HP) yields. Product-specific efficiencies and process fuel shares derived from this study were incorporated in Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET life-cycle model, along with regional upstream GHG intensities of crude, natural gas and electricity specific to the US and EU regions. The modeling results suggest that refineries that process relatively heavier crude inputs and have lower yields of HPs generally have lower energy efficiencies and higher GHG emissions than refineries that run lighter crudes with lower yields of HPs. The former types of refineries tend to utilize energy-intensive units which are significant consumers of utilities (heat and electricity) and hydrogen. Among the three groups of refineries studied, the major difference in the energy intensities is due to the amount of purchased natural gas for utilities and hydrogen, while the sum of refinery feed inputs are generally constant. These results highlight the GHG emissions cost a refiner pays to process deep into the barrel to produce more of the desirable fuels with low carbon to hydrogen ratio.},
doi = {10.1016/j.fuel.2015.03.038},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1247180}, journal = {Fuel},
issn = {0016-2361},
number = C,
volume = 157,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2015.03.038

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 48 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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Model to Investigate Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Implications of Refining Petroleum: Impacts of Crude Quality and Refinery Configuration
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