Strategies for Sustainable Petroleum Refining

Rising energy prices drive costs up and decrease the added value of all products - including petroleum and petroleum based products. Petroleum refining accounts for more than $8 billion in annual energy purchases in the U.S. alone, and is one of the largest energy consuming industries in the world.

Changing Demand Fuels Back-to-Basics Approach

Increased air quality and climate change demands, along with new developments in automotive technology and bio-technology, are posing new challenges to refineries. Producing lighter products and low-sulfur automotive fuels requires more energy to convert. This demand for a lighter product mix compounds the pressure on refineries to meet tougher environmental, safety and quality standards. While the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions in the petroleum life cycle occur with the final consumer, energy use among refineries is a major source of environmental emissions. Making basic energy efficiency improvements is a relatively low-cost way refineries can reduce emissions and cut operating costs.

Meeting the Climate Action Challenge

Industry benchmarking data suggests that most petroleum refineries can economically improve energy efficiency by as much as 20 percent, resulting in millions of dollars in savings and far reaching environmental benefits. The American Petroleum Institute has issued the Climate Action Challenge, an industry commitment to improve energy efficiency by 10 percent between 2002 and 2012.

Marathon Oil Corporation, the fifth largest refinery in the U.S., partners with Armstrong to identify and capture energy savings and reduce emissions of harmful gasses including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. At Marathon's Robinson, Illinois site, Armstrong analyzed the condition of more than 7,000 steam traps replacing more than 1,200 leaking or failed traps. Additional improvements such as recovery of condensate were also made. Marathon realized more than $1 million in energy savings at the Robinson refinery with additional year-over-year savings.

Marathon estimates its refineries achieved a 4.5 percent improvement in energy efficiency from 2002 through 2006 by installing new energy efficient equipment and upgrading existing equipment. PetroChina based in Fushun, China, has also partnered with Armstrong to dramatically reduce emissions and capture energy savings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Improving energy efficiency by adopting new technologies and sound management practices helps refineries like Marathon and PetroChina meet the challenge of maintaining the output of a high quality product while reducing production costs and working toward a sustainable future.