A complete review and understanding of energy consumption optimization solutions in petrochemical industries

Energy is a very important cost factor in the chemical industry, which is more important in the petrochemical industry than in other sub-branches of the chemical industry. The petrochemical industry is responsible for 70% of the costs of chemical industries in fuel and 40% of electricity costs. Improving energy efficiency is an important way to reduce costs and increase predictable income, especially when energy price fluctuations are high. There are many opportunities in the petrochemical industry to reduce energy consumption in a cost-effective way. Modern society is very reliant on the different petroleum-derived products for daily life products, as reflected in global chemical sales, which approximated €3.4 trillion in 2016 and are expected to reach €6.3 trillion in 2030. As a rapidly growing economic and industrial powerhouse, China is the largest global producer of various chemicals and chemical-related commodities. Its share of chemical production accounted for nearly 40% worldwide in 2016 and is predicted to contribute to half of the currently expanding market by 2025. Undoubtedly, the petrochemical industry, as one of the most important industry pillars of the economy of China, will continue to grow. However, the production of petrochemicals is an intensive process that involves extreme temperatures and pressures, thus resulting in energy-intensive and capital-intensive manufacturing processes. As the largest energy user, this sector comprised 28% of the worldwide industrial final energy consumption in 2014, and the process of energy use accounted for 42%. Hence China is determined to focus on green development in this industry to meet its target announced at the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference, which is a reduction of 60%–65% in carbon intensity based on its 2005 levels by 2030. In the era of expensive energy carriers and care for the climate, companies are keen to take action towards bolstering energy efficiency. Businesses often lack data on actual energy consumption to date, are rarely equipped with adequate analytical tools, and do not have the know-how regarding the transition itself. Developing energy efficiency management (EEM) for a given enterprise requires many steps, which ultimately unleash analytical potential and seamlessly integrate the EEM framework with the business model of a given company. This study scrutinizes and formalizes a reference process of pilot EEM implementation that involves external business partners in a multi-facility organization. The process is tailored to the specificity of the company’s operations as well as its technical and management capabilities regarding energy efficiency

A complete review and understanding of energy consumption optimization solutions in petrochemical industries Keywords:

energy audits (EAs) , energy efficiency , energy management , energy performance indicators (EnPI) , energy performance improvement actions (EPIA) ,