The technical and economic analysis of processing and conversion of heavy oil cuts to valuable refinery products

Many of the modern refineries are founded on converting/upgrading the heavy bases of low value to lighter products by higher added value like gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. In this work, some process configurations in heavy refinery cracking, converting and treating are technically and economically evaluated. In this purpose, four process configurations for refinery plants are suggested. These processes are evaluated and analyzed to obtain the most optimal configurations with the aim of achieving the most valuable refinery products. The difference of the processes is in heavy residue conversion and processing. These processes are included the Asphalt Air Blowing Unit (AABU, Type 1), Delayed Coker Unit (DCU, Type 2), Heavy Residue Hydro-Conversion (HRH, Type 3) and Solvent De-Asphalting (SDA, Type 4). The units are common in mentioned refineries cases and just ABU, HCU, DCU, HRH and SDA are different. In economic consideration, the payout period is considered as one of the standard methods of assessing the economic projects and economically estimating them. As results, the highest rate of gasoline is recorded in the refinery type of DCU unit and the highest amount of LPG/C4/C3, kerosene and gasoline production observed in refinery type of HRH unit. The construction of refinery with ABU unit has minimum investment (980 million $) and highest rate of return (19.4).

Automated summary

This article evaluates different process configurations in heavy refinery cracking, converting and treating, aiming to produce lighter products with higher value such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. Four process configurations are suggested and assessed for their technical and economic performance in producing the most valuable refinery products. The differences lie in heavy residue conversion and processing. The economic evaluation considers the payout period as a standard method for assessing and estimating the economic feasibility of the projects. The results show that the highest gasoline production rate is achieved in the DCU unit and the highest production of LPG/C4/C3, kerosene and gasoline is observed in the HRH unit. The ABU unit has the minimum investment ($980 million) and highest rate of return (19.4).