HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 47

Plant Design, Engineering and Construction
tax approaches $100/t for a high-CO2 case (e.g., Case B2B).
For lower-CO2 cases (e.g., cases A2 and B5), the CO2
tax would
need to be more than $125/t.
Crude effects. The design crude also influences economics.
Both Arab Light and Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC)
crudes have a higher price in this study. This hurts the simple
configurations (e.g., cases A0 and B0), with IRR decreasing
5%-8% (TABLE 8), but much less than in more complex configurations
where IRR decreases only 1%-3%, as they have a
higher intrinsic gross margin.
With CPC crude, the RFCC Case A0 looks poor as the gasoline
pool becomes unbalanced. The smaller FCCU (and ETBE
and alkylation units), relative to the Urals or Arab Light case,
now requires the purchase of a significant amount of ETBE as a
gasoline pool blending component. The base HCU (Case B0)
also needs a high ETBE import. This disadvantage disappears
when the reformate is sent to an aromatics complex (Case A2)
or when a steam cracker and/or aromatics complex is included
(cases B1-B5). The aromatic cases (A2, B3, B4 and B5) look
particularly good when using CPC crude.
As shown, the ranking of technologies changes with crude. In
the CPC case, an advanced DCU/RHCU scheme (Case B4 or
B5) is more attractive than an RFCC-based scheme (Case A2).
Takeaway. Any future new refinery complex will likely integrate
petrochemicals manufacturing. Existing refineries will
need to look at options to expand into petrochemical units or
to integrate with neighboring petrochemical plants. In general,
the more integrated schemes-with a high petrochemical
output-are more robust to changes in feed/product and
utility pricing, as well as to the selection of crude and CO2
CO2 emissions will increase as petrochemical output intax.
creases-the
addition of a steam cracker has a large effect on
CO2
emissions. A CO2 tax will negatively affect the economics
of any refinery/petrochemical complex.
In this article, the authors have illustrated how it paid to
invest in pre-combustion CO2
when CO2 taxes increased to $75/t. Post-combustion carbon
capture did not look attractive until the CO2
capture at the hydrogen plant
tax reached
$125/t.
These projects can be implemented stagewise, with petrochemical
units being built in a second phase commensurate
with an anticipated reduction in motor fuel demand. Processing
bio-based materials and/or streams from plastic recycle
plants presents another opportunity to improve economics
and sustainability.
The conclusions drawn in this analysis are based on a particular
crude diet, feed and product pricing, as well as on operational
and investment costs, and may change depending on
local circumstances. Feedstock flexibility and a robustness for
feed/product pricing changes, coupled with a proper assessment
of risks and opportunities associated with each investment,
should be part of a proper evaluation.
FRED BAARS is a Senior Process Director with Fluor's Energy
and Chemicals business line. He has more than 35 yr of
experience in refinery operations and processes, and in
executing and managing refinery projects in all phases of
execution. Mr. Baars was named a Fluor Fellow in 2005.
SRINIVASA ORUGANTI is a Process Director with Fluor New
Delhi. He has more than 28 yr of experience in process
engineering. Mr. Oruganti previously worked at Uhde India Pvt.
Ltd. He earned a BTech degree in chemical engineering from
Andhra University and an MTech degree in industrial
engineering and management (IE&M) from the Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur, India.
PARVEEN KALIA is a Linear Programming Modeling Specialist
with Fluor New Delhi. He has more than 15 yr of experience in
process engineering design for petroleum refinery and chemical
plants. Mr. Kalia worked for 5 yr with Reliance Industries Ltd.
before joining Fluor. He earned a Bch degree in chemical
engineering from Panjab University in India.
Hydrocarbon Processing | AUGUST 2021 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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