Improving Petroleum

Refinery Economics by
Optimizing Water
Usage

Environmental Federation of Oklahoma

18th Annual Meeting
October 1, 2009
 Agenda
• Overview water usage in petroleum
refineries.
• Discuss drivers.
• Review opportunities to reduce water
related costs:
– Focus on high value water commodities.
– Matching supply quality to the demand
need.
– Utilization of municipal wastewater.
– Zero discharge concepts.
 Water Use in Petroleum
Refineries
• Adding heat to the processes (steam).
• Removing heat from the process (cooling
water).
• Removing salt and impurities from crude.
• Protecting equipment from corrosion.
• Generation of hydrogen (used to remove
sulfur from motor fuels).
• Equipment cleaning and maintenance.
 Water Usage in the Petroleum
Refining Industry
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Worst in Class Best in Class

(50-60 gal/bbl) (10-20 gal/bbl)

Water usage varies greatly from facility to facility.

Gallons/bbl Doesn’t Tell the Story…
• Raw water quality varies:
– Target ion concentrations.
– Hardness.
• Refinery configuration
– Water usage very linked to energy
efficiency of the facility.
• Crude slate
– Poor quality “price advantaged” crude oil
requires more water.

Some refineries have much greater challenges than others in their

efforts to control water usage.
Primary Uses
The Water Used Is:

Evaporated equates to
energy lost
Cost Drivers
 Costs Associated with Water
Streams Vary
• The value of steam includes the cost of
energy to heat it.
• Boiler feed water includes the costs of
purifying raw water.
• Cooling water includes the costs of
chemicals to treat it.

Value ($/1000 gallons)
 Other Drivers
• Some refineries have had to cut rates due
to limited water supply.
– Direct costs of water may be low.
– Cost of lost production is very high.
 Water Conservation
Opportunities
• Focus on High Value Streams
• Matching Water Quality with Process
Requirements.
• Treated Municipal Wastewater Reuse
Projects.
• “Zero Discharge” Concepts.
Focus on High Value Streams
• Projects to reduce steam system losses are
easier to justify than projects to reduce leaks
from raw water supply lines, because of the
costs associated with the commodities.
– A minor ½ gpm raw water leak is worth
$525/year.
– A minor, ½ gpm steam leak is worth
$20,000/year.
• In many refineries, cost savings opportunities
are on the order of $millions/year.
 Common Steam/Condensate
Loss Sources
• Malfunctioning steam traps.
• Corroded/leaking piping.
• Leaking steam tracing.
• Contamination issues.
• Lack of condensate return headers.
• Design issues.
Typical Refinery Steam
Balance
 Opportunities
• Fund an ongoing maintenance effort to
repair leaks.
• Review heat exchanger maintenance
practices to minimize contamination of
steam condensate.
• Extend condensate collection piping to
remote areas.
• Take steps to stabilize condensate
streams so that they don’t cause
overpressuring of collection system.
•
 Steam System Goals
• “Average” refineries recover 45-55% of the
steam condensate.
• “Best in Class Refineries recover 70-80%.
 Match Water Quality with
Process Requirements
• Many facilities utilize water from more than
one source.
• All facilities generate reusable wastewater
streams.
• Better quality water sources should be
supplied to processes that can benefit
from them.
Cooling Tower Example
 Cooling Towers
Evaporation

Raw Water
Process
∆T Heat
Exchangers

Blowdown to Remove Calcium,

Magnesium, Silica, etc.
 Considerations
• Cooling towers must be “blown down” to prevent
problem ions from concentrating to the point that
they form scale when heated in process
exchangers.
• Depending on water quality, cooling tower blowdown
ranges from 10 to 30% of the raw water make up
rate.
• Water sources with lower problem ion concentrations
result in reduced blowdown rates, resulting in water
savings.
• Water with higher problem ion concentrations can still
be used in processes where the water will not be
heated .
•
Alternate Sources of Cooling
Tower Make-up
• Reverse osmosis unit reject (from boiler
water treatment).
• Cold steam condensate.
• Excess boiler feedwater.
• Alternate water supplies.
 Cooling Tower Example

Water Source #1

By switching to a readily available water source with lower silica

concentrations (5 ppm vs. 50 ppm), water demand was reduced by over
600 gpm.
 Reuse of Treated Municipal
Effluent
• In some areas, municipal effluent is being
provided to industry as a substitute for
fresh water.
• California’s East Bay Municipal Utility
District has successfully implemented
one project, and is planning others.
• Los Angeles and Anglian Water (U.K.) are
also planning projects.
 Typical Reuse Process
Public System Industry

Zeolite Softening
High Quality
lically Owned Wastewater Treatment SystemReverse Osmosis System Water Supply

Reject to Disposal or
Discharge
 Benefits
• Proven technologies.
• Recovers up to 70% of municipal
wastewater.
• Provides a very high quality water supply
—supports low usage.
•
 Concerns
• So far, economically feasible only with
subsidies (California and the U.K.), or
where water supply is limited.
• Produces waste stream with high
dissolved solids—disposal issues.
• Can impact a facilities ability to pass
effluent bio-toxicity tests.

 Zero Discharge Concepts
• The “zero discharge” concept has been
around for many years.
• Serious planning to achieve zero
discharge is just now starting to take
place.
• Existing infrastructure, coupled with new
technologies can bring facilities close to
the zero discharge goal.
 Zero Discharge Challenges
• Salts and impurities must be removed
from the system.
• Make up is still required to replace large
evaporation rates.
Zero Discharge Process

Evaporation
 Summary
• Petroleum refining is a water intensive
industry.
• Focus on high value water streams can
have a significant positive impact on
operating costs.
• Technologies exist and are being
implemented to relieve water supply
concerns.