A study of energy use and waste generation in a lube base oil refinery | |
| Author | Chirachat Angsumalee |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. ET-00-24 |
| Subject(s) | Petroleum refineries--Energy consumption Factory and trade waste |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Lube oil refinery producing lube base oil and bitumen is an energy-intensive plant. A study was done to assess the material & energy consumption and waste generation in a lube oil plant to identify and analyze opportunities for conserving water, raw material and energy. The material balance of the whole plant and some major operating units, and the energy balance of some operating units of the lube oil plant was done. Energy consumption and waste generation of some operating units and the whole plant was collected. An analysis of material balance, energy consumption, and waste generation showed that the average fraction of material loss to the total feed of the plant is about 0.7%, which is higher than similar plants in Japan and Europe. Steam, fuel oil and electricity are the tree major energy types used in the plant, while the major energy cost are the steam and electticity cost. Minimization of steam loss and maximization of condensate recovery is important because it can reduce the steam cost, increase condensate selling and also reduce the sour water generation. Efficient combustion of fuel oil at the Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU) and Hot Oil Belt (HOB) heater is important because it can reduce the fuel oil consumption and also the emissions from these two units considerably. The efficient use of hot oil and reduction in heat losses through hot oil line can also save fuel oil consumption. The PDA unit has highest amount of energy loss and highest fraction of the energy loss the to the energy input(%). The other units that have large energy loss are VDU, MPU, SDU and HOB. A comparison of energy consumption of the major operating units with the theoretical energy consumption shows that most operating units have good potential for energy conservation. The study shows that the plant operated at part load condition and the feed was generally about 60% of design capacity. Operation at high feed rate could reduce the fraction of mate1ial losses on total feed (% ), the fraction of energy loss to the energy input (%) and the specific energy consumption. The specific electricity, steam and fuel oil consumption of the plant varied about 105-150 kWh/Tfeed, 0.40-0.60 T/Tfeed and 0.040-0.055 T/Tfeed, respectively. The specific_ wastewater generation of this plant is generally in the range 0.15- 0.35 ton/Tfeed. |
| Year | 2000 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Technology (ET) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kumar, Sivanappan; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Visvanathan, Chettiyappan;Mohanty, Brahmanand; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology (Partial Scholarship) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2000 |