HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 40

Plant Design, Engineering and Construction
CDU offgas + LPG
NHT offgas + LPG
KHT offgas + LPG
DHT offgas + LPG
NHT sour offgas + LPG
H2
CDU offgas
+ LPG
Crude
Urals
KHT
wild
naphtha
DHT
wild
naphtha
CDU
S.R. naptha
ARDS
naptha
H2
S.R.
kero
KHT
Kero product
DHT sour offgas + LPG
H2
S.R.
diesel
ATM residue
H2
ARDS
LCO
ARDS diesel
ARDS offgas + LPG
ARDS
naphtha
ARDS
diesel
HDT residue
RFCC
Slurry
LCO
DHT
Diesel product
Dry gas
DHT wild naptha
Dry gas
ERU
Propylene to PP
Propane to LPG
C4
s to ETBE
Gasoline
Ethylene to PP
Sour offgas + LPG
H2
FCC GSLN
HDS
Gasoline
C9
+
Slurry
FIG. 1. Block flow diagram of Case A2: An RFCCU, along with a PP unit and an aromatics complex.
by $64/t of crude (from $61/t to $125/t), which is still enough
to compensate for the 85% increase in investment cost (from
$4.16 B to $7.7 B). IRR increases from 11% to 12.4%.
The value of the steam cracker was further explored by increasing
the naphtha flow to the unit, with the additional naphtha
produced by the HCU converted to naphtha operation,
which produces nearly four times as much naphtha vs. the base
case (Case B2A). The gross margin increases from $194/t to
$252/t. However, the increase in net margin from $125/t to
$151/t does not pay for the higher investment (from $7.7 B to
$10.1 B), with IRR decreasing from 12.4% to 11.2%. The petrochemicals
output rises to 24% of crude. In addition, sending atmospheric
and light coker gasoils to the naphtha hydrocracking
unit (NHCU) (Case B2B) further increases the petrochemicals
output to 35%, but with poorer economics.
Adding an aromatics complex-with or without a steam
cracker-in the scheme (Cases B3 and B4) substantially improves
economics, with IRR increasing from 12.4% (Case B1)
to 14.1% and 15.4% for Cases B3 and B4, respectively. Despite
the lower margin, the case without the steam cracker (i.e., Case
B4) has the better economics on account of the lower investment.
The gasoline pool properties can only be met by importing
supplemental ETBE and sending some reformate to the
pool. The petrochemicals output for Cases B3 and B4 is now
37% and 17% of crude, respectively.
In Case B5, the DCU has been swapped for an RHCU, based
on slurry technology. Relative to Case B4, the gross margin improves
$22/t. This decreases to $17/t on a net margin basis. The
RHCU's catalyst cost is a major contributor to the higher operating
cost. IRR further improves to 17.7%.
Based on IRR, Case B5-which includes a slurry RHCU
that processes the same feed as the DCU previously, along with
an HCU geared toward naphtha production and an aromatics
complex-has the best economics of the evaluated HCU cases.
Comparisons and sensitivities to product/utility
pricing. As a reference case, the obtained IRR results are reported
in the first column of TABLE 5. The RFCC cases (Cases
A0-A2) typically yield better returns than the HCU and
NHCU cases (Cases B0-B4) (see also FIG. 3). The DCU+HCU
case (B0) is penalized by the higher import of ETBE (TABLE 4).
Adding a steam cracker to the HCU (Cases B1-B2B) does not
close the IRR gap with the FCC cases.
Due to the higher capacity of the aromatics complex and
the higher naphtha production from the NHCU, adding an
aromatics unit is more attractive in an NHCU (moving from
Case B2A to Case B3 increases IRR by 2.9%) vs. an RFCCbased
configuration (moving from Case A1 to Case A2 increases
IRR by 1.5%).
The combination of an RFCC, PP and aromatics complex
Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 2021 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Fuel oil
Reformate
NHT
HDT naptha
HC naptha
KHT sour offgas + LPG
KHT wild
naptha
Heavy naptha
CCR
CCR net gas
PSA
Naphtha
splitter
Light naptha
H2
ARDS offgas + LPG
Isom offgas + LPG
FCC HDS offgas + LPG
CCR LPG
Offgas + LPG
Refinery C4
Isomerization
Isomerate
PSA tailgas
Aromatics offgas
CCR LPG
H2
PSA
tailgas
Aromatics
C9
+
KHT
kerosene
DHT
diesel
Diesel
Kerosene
Ethanol
RFCC C4
s
ETBE
ETBE
Offgas
s
C4
s
Alky
Alkylate
Isomerate
Raffinate
FCC HDT gasoline p-Xylene
Benzene
Gasoline
pool
Saturated
gas plant
Fuel gas
Ethylene from ERU
Propylene from RFCC
RFCC propane
Refinery C3
s
Other C4
s
LPG
H2
PP
Polypropylene

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HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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