Hydrocarbon Processing - August 2022 - 34

Refining Technology
TABLE 5. Evaluation of technology options for refinery decarbonization
Parameters/Technology
CCS for furnace(s)
Hydrogen fuel for furnace, SMR
CCS upstream of PSA SMR
CCS from flue gas of SMR
CCS FCC
Gasification for H2
Legend
Strongly
favorable
Favorable
cooling water systems. Product compositions
vary depending upon the selected
gasification technology and the characteristics
of the petroleum coke. Coke produced
from the 100,000-bpd deep-conversion
coking refinery processing heavy
crude discussed in previous sections will
yield approximately 130 MMsft3
d of H2
.
This will exceed what is required by the
refinery for process use alone. Additional
available H2
fuel gas and used in furnaces, leading to
significant additional CO2
ratio compared to
can be mixed with refinery
reduction.3,4
Since petroleum coke has a significantly
higher carbon-to-H2
NG, the CO2
route. The electricity requirement will
is captured from highalso
be significantly higher. However, in
this route, all CO2
pressure syngas. This enables a much more
efficient CO2
capture, yielding an overall
CO2 capture efficiency of ~90% while
targeting only high-pressure streams. The
gasification route has higher indirect emissions
due to electricity, whereas the SMR
route has higher upstream emissions, depending
on the source of NG. If the electricity
for gasification is acquired from a
low-carbon source, this route becomes
attractive. Since most existing refineries
have NG-based SMR H2
units, the capital
costs for this option will be high.
CO2
reduction from fluid catalytic
cracking (FCC). In the FCCU, during the
reaction step, coke is formed and deposited
on the surface of the catalyst. To regenerate
catalyst, the coke is burned in the
regenerator with air. This generates CO2
and is a substantial single-point source of
emissions from the refinery. FCC flue gas
34 AUGUST 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
quantity that must be captured
and sequestered in this route will
be significantly higher than in the SMR
H2
Neutral Unfavorable
Strongly
unfavorable
contains about 10 mol%-20 mol% of CO2
when running in full combustion mode.
For the 100,000-bpd refinery discussed
in previous sections, the estimated
CO2
emissions are 630 tpd (approximatecapture
from FCly
200,000 tpy) for a 25,000-bpd FCCU.
Two options for CO2
CUs are post-combustion technologies:
CO2
Oxy-combustion has been demonstrated
in trials5
absorption and oxy-combustion.
as competitive with post-combustion,
providing more flexibility and
requiring a smaller plot area. Scale-up
and commercial demonstration will be required
before it is widely adopted.
Post-combustion capture will be similar
to what was discussed for flue gas from
heaters and SMRUs: a low-pressure, lowCO2
partial
pressure gas requiring MEA
or similar solvents is used. A major difference
is the presence of contaminants,
such as particulates, sulfur oxides (SOx
and nitrogen oxides (NOx
)
), which must
be brought down to acceptable levels
for amine absorption solvent. This will
require a pre-treatment step typically
utilizing DeNOx
and a wet gas scrubber.
The scrubber reduces particulates, SOx
and temperature to acceptable levels. A
single train of blower, scrubber, absorption,
regeneration and compression will
be capable of handling FCCUs processing
100,000 bpd-120,000 bpd.
Evaluation of options. A typical qualitative
comparison of CO2
reduction
reduction
options based on capital and operating
costs, commercial history, CO2
potential and constructability are presented
in TABLE 5. The best-suited option
will strongly depend on site-specific factors,
such as plot plan constraints, availability
of steam and energy cost, source of
4
Capital
cost
Operating
cost
Commercial
history
CO2
abatement
Constructability
crude/NG,
cost of capital, availability of
water, labor cost, etc.
Takeaway. In the coming decades, petroleum
refineries will be required to continue
producing transport fuels while producing
fuels from renewable feedstocks
and diverting some of the lighter ends to
petrochemical production. In addition to
adapting the product slate to low-carbon
needs, refineries will also be required to
reduce their own carbon footprints. This
article has identified options available to
refineries for the decarbonization of production
process. Proven and demonstrated
technical options exist for achieving a
high level of decarbonization from CO2
emissions associated with process heating
and H2
production. For FCC CO2
, the solution
is technically feasible although other
options are also under development.
The challenge will be to reduce the cost
of applying these options and devising
regulatory mechanisms to share the costs
of decarbonization. These aspects will be
discussed in a subsequent article.
LITERATURE CITED
1
University of Calgary, Energy Technology
Assessment Research Group, " PRELIM: The petroleum
refinery life cycle inventory model, " online:
https://www.ucalgary.ca/energy-technology-assessment/open-source-models/prelim
2
Gary,
J. H. and G. E. Handwerk, Petroleum refining:
Technology and economics, 5th Ed. Marcel Dekker
Inc., New York, New York, 2007.
3
Global CCS Institute, " Replacing 10% of NSW natural
gas supply with clean H2
: Comparison of H2
production
options, " June 2020, online: https://www.
globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publicationsreports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gassupply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/
Digne,
R., F. Feugnet and A. Gomez, " A technical and
economical evaluation of CO2
catalytic cracking (FCC) flue gas, " Oil & Gas Science
and Technology-Rev. de I IFP, November 2014.
5
bp Corp., " Carbon dioxide capture for storage in
deep geologic formations-Results from the CO2
capture project: CCS technology development
and demonstration results (2009-2014), " Vol. 4,
2015, online: https://www.co2captureproject.org/
reports/CCP3v4_full_version.pdf
RAJ BHADRA SINGH is Chief
Engineer, Process, with Bechtel
India. He has more than 30 yr
of experience in engineering,
procurement and construction
(EPC), front-end engineering design
(FEED) and basic engineering for
petroleum refining, petrochemicals, gasification and
polysilicon projects. Prior to joining Bechtel India, he
worked with Fluor Gurgaon and Engineers India Ltd.
Mr. Singh holds BS degrees in chemical engineering
from the National Institute of Technology in Surathkal
and an MS degree in process engineering design from
the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
capture from fluidized

https://www.ucalgary.ca/energy-technology-assessment/open-source-models/prelim https://www.ucalgary.ca/energy-technology-assessment/open-source-models/prelim https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gas-supply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/ https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gas-supply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/ https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gas-supply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/ https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gas-supply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/ https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/replacing-10-of-nsw-natural-gas-supply-with-clean-hydrogen-comparison-of-hydrogen-production-options/ https://www.co2captureproject.org/reports/CCP3v4_full_version.pdf https://www.co2captureproject.org/reports/CCP3v4_full_version.pdf http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

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