(119f) An Innovative Design for Energy Saving by Self-Heat Recuperation in Crude Oil Distillation

In our daily lives, we use many products that originate from oil, such as fuel and plastics. In fact, not only consumer products but also whole modern economies rely on petroleum. Currently, the amount of annual crude oil imports to Japan amounts to about 230 GL/y or about 5% of annual world crude oil production. It is reported that about 5% of this amount is used as fuel in oil refinery plants.

Recently, energy saving has attracted increased interest in many countries to minimize global warming, caused mainly by the consumption of fossil fuels. Although many heat integration techniques for process energy saving have been applied to oil refinery plants since the 1970s, oil refinery plants still consume large amounts of energy compared to the required values based on an exergy analysis for separation processes. In particular, crude oil distillation is an atmospheric distillation column using a furnace. It consumes about 50% of the energy required in an oil refinery plant. To reduce energy requirements, it is necessary to investigate crude oil distillation and to retrofit it with energy saving processes.

The authors developed an innovative process design technology, termed self-heat recuperation technology for saving energy. By using this technology, whole-process heat is recirculated within the process without heat addition, leading to large energy savings. In this research, crude oil distillation is analyzed and a crude oil distillation model for an energy saving design is developed. Furthermore, the feasibility of application of self-heat recuperation technology is investigated and an innovative design for energy saving by self-heat recuperation in crude oil distillation is proposed.