The petrochemical and refining industries have a shared past. Indeed, in many integrated companies, it is frequently a topic for organizational debate where the refining business ends and chemical business begins. The basic businesses are such that a natural inter-dependence has and always will exist. Beyond the basic integration necessary for existence, however, there lies the integration steps for optimization: Upgraded dispositions for feedstocks, fuel and utilities. These steps are discretionary and subject to economic incentive on a case-by-case basis.
In this paper, I will address the existing and future integration opportunities between the refineries and petrochemical plants to improve the margins of both
Integration opportunities with the existing structure:
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Benzene as feedstock for styrene production.
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Aromatics-containing distillate stream for use as compressor wash oil.
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C5 minus from refinery hydrocracker operations can be used as feedstock for the chemical plant.
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CO2 from refinery and methanol production.
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Heavy, by-product liquid streams, some containing aromatics, can be reprocessed and upgraded by the refinery.
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BTX stream from refinery for xylene and benzene recovery.
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Future integration opportunities for better margins.
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FCC Olefin recovery.
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C4/C5 extraction and alkylation.
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Steam cracking as an alternate to catalytic reforming.
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Steam cracking as an alternate to hydrowax recycle.
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Upgrading xylenes as an alternate to H.D.A.
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H2s containing stream to replace DMDS in ethylene production.
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Utilities integration.
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Support staff and facilities integration.
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The petrochemical and refining industries have a shared past. Indeed, in many integrated companies, it is frequently a topic for organizational debate where the refining business ends and chemical business begins. The basic businesses are such that a natural interdependence has and always will exist. Beyond the basic integration necessary for existence, however, there lie the integration steps for optimization: upgraded dispositions for feedstocks, fuel and utilities. These steps are discretionary and subject to economic incentive on a case-by-case basis.
Up to now, integration for optimization has been driven mainly from the chemical manufacturing side. Chemical manufacturing has historically seen wider fluctuation in margins and thus a greater incentive at various times for efficiency improvement and cost reduction. Additionally, the chemical industry is generally subject to tighter and more changeable specifications and customer demand patterns. But today, refineries are also facing margin pressures, specification changes and varying customer dema