Refinery-Petrochemical Integration

Petrochemical plants and refineries both process hydrocarbon derived materials. Refineries focus on fuels production. Refinery products include LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), gasoline (petrol), kerosene and jet fuel, diesel, fuel oils, and coke. Petrochemicals focus on creating intermediates used to produce industrial and consumer products. Major petrochemical processes include steam cracking to produce ethylene (ethane), propylene (propene), and butadiene and aromatics plants producing benzene, toluene, xylene and other aromatics.

At intermediate points in their processes, refineries produce molecules of interest to petrochemical operations, and petrochemical plants produce molecules important to refineries. The easiest molecule to make is the one you already have. Refinery-petrochemical integration works on maximizing the return on the entire hydrocarbon value chain.

This presentation covers a general overview of refinery-petrochemical integration. Key points covered include:

·         Short background status on historical status of refinery-petrochemical plant integration.

·         Current status in the industry

·         Potential benefits

·         The players

·         Required drivers for success

·         The easy targets

·         The future

The presentation gives an overview of the entire subject, identifies key technical, economic, and management issues. It is intended to build background knowledge to help refineries and petrochemical plants work more profitably together.

About the Speakers:

Andrew W. Sloley is a Principal Consultant at Advisian, WorleyParsons’ consulting division. At Advisian he is responsible for refinery and petrochemical technology with a strong emphasis on distillation and heat-integration systems. His responsibilities include economic evaluation, technology selection, and operational excellence support. He has worked for over 35 years in crude oil distillation, fluid cracking, delayed coking, alkylation, steam cracking, and aromatics processes. Previously he worked for Exxon Chemicals in technology development, Glitsch as a troubleshooter, project manager, and chief engineer, in consulting firms, and with CH2M HILL as a principal engineer in process design for new plants and revamps. Mr. Sloley received a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tulsa and is professional engineer in the State of Texas. He is a Fellow of the AIChE and has published extensively and served on multiple industry committees and panels. Currently, he writes a monthly column on plant troubleshooting for Chemical Processing magazine.

Scott Schroeder is a Senior Technical Consultant at Advisian, WorleyParsons’ consulting division. At Advisian is he is responsible for gas processing and petrochemical technology. His responsibilities include economic evaluation, technology selection, and operational excellence support. He has worked for over 19 years in cryogenic gas processing, LNG, gas purification, refinery off-gas processing, NGL fractionation as well as several novel processes. Mr. Schroeder received his BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas and the Province of Alberta. He is the co-inventor on 2 patents with a third patent pending.