How will refineries reconfigure as the world moves towards net zero carbon dioxide?

• Autor(a) principal: Maia, Luanna Vanessa Bastos Gadelha
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/39680
• topic: Net Zero CO₂; Carbon capture; Hydrogen; Biofuels; Reconfiguration; Petrochemicals maximization

Refineries are the largest suppliers of fuels used in the energy sector. However, global measures aimed at gradually reducing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with fossil fuels have been proposed to combat global warming. Consequently, these carbon dioxide mitigation measures, such as the electrification of transportation, lead to declining demand for fossil fuels, especially gasoline, challenging refiners to find ways to stay in line with global goals while profiting from their activities. In order to understand what paths refineries might take in a low-carbon future, the first objective of this paper was to analyze the current viability of carbon capture technologies, blue and green hydrogen, and biofuels as complete decarbonization solutions for refineries. It was possible to infer that the environmental, technical, and economic challenges make these alternatives insufficient for refineries to achieve Net Zero carbon dioxide emissions. The second objective of this work was to present solutions for refineries that will be affected by decreasing gasoline demand. Consequently, reconfiguration routes were proposed for units dedicated to gasoline production so that they produce marginally more middle distillates (diesel and jet fuel) and the maximum of petrochemical intermediates as possible. Maximizing middle distillates can be a beneficial practice for refineries since diesel and jet fuel will still be needed for “hard-to-electrify” transportation. Therefore, to increase the production of these middle distillates and consequently reduce gasoline generation, the reconfiguration of the fluid catalytic cracking and hydrocracking units has been proposed. The production of petrochemical intermediates such as propylene, benzene, and xylene offers the opportunity to increase the profitability of refineries in markets with high demand for petrochemicals and gasoline surplus. Changes in the configuration of the fluid catalytic cracking unit and the addition of a selective catalyst (ZMS-5) allow propylene production to be maximized and gasoline production to be minimized. At the refinery, the reformate stream resulting from catalytic reforming contains toluene and A9 aromatics. This stream can be sent to an aromatics complex instead of being used for gasoline production, making it possible to maximize the production of benzene and para-xylene through interconversion processes such as TOL/A9+, STA, or STDP.