Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

Environmental Effects

ISSN: 1556-7036 (Print) 1556-7230 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueso20

Cleaner production and environmental

sustainability: Analysis of the Serbian
petrochemical plant

Bojana Vukadinović, Ivanka Popović, Aleksandar Subotin & Mirjana

Kijevčanin

To cite this article: Bojana Vukadinović, Ivanka Popović, Aleksandar Subotin & Mirjana Kijevčanin
(2018) Cleaner production and environmental sustainability: Analysis of the Serbian petrochemical
plant, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 40:3, 259-265,
DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2016.1205681

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2016.1205681

Published online: 03 Jan 2018.

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 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
2018, VOL. 40, NO. 3, 259–265
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2016.1205681

Cleaner production and environmental sustainability: Analysis of

the Serbian petrochemical plant
Bojana Vukadinovića, Ivanka Popovićb, Aleksandar Subotinc, and Mirjana Kijevčaninb
a
Cleaner Production Center of Serbia, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia;
b
Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; cHIP Petrohemija, Pancevo, Serbia

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The approach proposed in this paper emphasizes the methodology of Cleaner production
examining the possibility of increasing energy efficiency in the case of methodology; emissions
industry, such as a petrochemical complex, which is at the same time marked reduction; energy efficiency;
as the major pollutant of the environment. The improved cleaner production petrochemical industry;
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methodology was used based on the conditions and needs of the major steam production
Serbian petrochemical company. This paper presents results obtained by
steam system optimization and modifications. The implemented measures
lead to a decrease in total energy consumption by 6% and a decrease in
greenhouse gas emissions by 9 t CO2e.

1. Introduction
Globally, industry is responsible for almost one-third of the total energy consumption and for nearly
40% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. According to the International Energy Agency’s
(IEA) data (Abbaszadeh and Hassim, 2014), industry worldwide will need to reduce its current direct
emissions by about 24% of 2007 levels, if it is to halve global emissions from 2005 levels by 2050
(Abdelaziz et al., 2011). The potential for the reduction of primary energy in industry, by adopting
best practice technologies, is estimated to 18–26% of the total industrial energy consumption and
5.4–8.0% of total energy consumption in all sectors (Al-Sharrah et al., 2010).
Petrochemical industry is well known as an energy intensive industry. Energy costs are a
significant factor in the chemical industry, and the petrochemical industry is more energy intensive
than other subsectors within the chemical industry. Namely, it accounts for 70% of the chemical
industry’s expenditures on fuel and 40% of the expenditures on electricity (Charmondusit and
Keartpakpraek, 2011). Therefore, resource and energy efficiency continue to be one of the priorities
in operation of the petrochemical plants. Besides financial savings in terms of energy reduction and
increasing the productivity, energy efficiency has been recognized as an effective way in reducing the
emission of greenhouse gases.
When it comes to chemical industry, analyzing of energy use can be quite demanding because of
process complexity and amount of necessary data. Considering the energy efficiency potential,
and the aspect of environmental pollution, petrochemical sector remains to be a very attractive
field for research.
The approach proposed in this paper emphasizes the methodology of examining the present
condition of a petrochemical complex, as well as the analysis of its operation and the possibility of
increasing its energy efficiency. Considering the possible environmental pollution related to this type
of the industry, environmental indicators were analyzed for the different impact categories such as
climate change, acidification, and photo-oxidant formation.

CONTACT Mirjana Kijevčanin mirjana@tmf.bg.ac.rs Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade,
Karnegijeva 4, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
 260 B. VUKADINOVIĆ ET AL.

2. Methodology
Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP) has been successfully implemented around the world
and in different industries (Lozano, 2012; Lee, 2013; Liew et al., 2014). However, implementation of
cleaner production continues facing problems and barriers. Silva et al. (2013) and Posch et al. (2015)
presented some of the problems, such as, lack of detailed information, tools and techniques that can be
employed to achieve results in each step. Analysis of cleaner production and other initiatives by Posch
et al. (2015) and Ren (2009) showed that application of only one methodology can result in a limited and
narrow contribution to sustainability, especially in a case of the entire company’s system.
In this paper the RECP was used in the case of the “HIP-Petrohemija” JSC Pancevo (hereinafter: HIP-
Petrohemija), but adopted to the conditions and needs of this major Serbian petrochemical company.
In general, the production process is highly energy intensive, and it has high environmental
impact, especially impact caused by emissions to air. For the purpose of system analyzing and
detailed material and energy balance preparation, data were collected for the period of three years on
quantity of main products and by-products, amount of generated steam, consumption of gas and
electricity, consumption of chemicals, as well as the amounts of the generated waste and emissions.
The specific environmental indicators were implemented in the analysis, and the system parameters
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required for the process analysis (e.g. steam temperatures and pressures, condensing pressure, water
flow rate, make-up water flow rate, turbine power, potentials of power increasing, etc.) were
obtained by in situ measurements, laboratory testing in order to obtain accurate property data,
and, finally, with process parameters optimization.
The Energy Use Indicator (EUI), calculated as the ratio of the sector’s energy use if all processes
were to adopt BPTs and the sector’s actual energy use in the company (Feng et al., 2011), was applied
in this case study.
One part of the investigated system was the boiler house (three boilers with total installed
capacities of 3 × 80 t/h of saturated steam). The part of the steam produced is used in turbines
for compressors and pumps at the pressure of 38 bar, while the other part is reduced to 14.5 bar.
Steam consumers are provided with the steam of 38/14.5/3.5 bar. In average, a total of 410,000 m3 of
fresh water was used for boilers. Apart from the steam produced in Boiler house of the Utility Plant,
Ethylene Plant produces high pressure steam of 105 bar in their own boiler. The saturated steam
produced in this boiler is superheated to 442°C in superheaters.
The amount of used cooling water was 122,000,000 m3 in a closed system. The water that evaporates
during the cooling processes is replaced with fresh water from the Utility Plant. Natural gas consumption
was in average 70,000,000 m3N per year (66% of the total consumption in Ethylene Plant; 33% of the
total gas consumption in Utility Plant). Other sources of energy used in the Ethylene Plant were residual
gas (with low heating value, LHV=52.8 MJ/t) in the amount of 86,432 t (4.56 million GJ), pyrolysis fuel oil
(LHV = 39.8 MJ/kg) 25,794 t, and oil (LHV = 39.8 MJ/kg) in the amount of 23,739 t. The total energy
consumption for the whole plant was 8.14 million GJ. In order to display results properly, analysis of
possible savings was done for the system based on energy obtained using natural gas (LHV of 33 MJ/
Nm3). The total energy consumption, calculated on natural gas, is 243 million of m3.
Based on the collected data, preliminary analysis was done in order to find areas with the highest
potential for optimization and improvement and to continue further research there.
As HIP-Petrohemija is a large energy (electricity and heat) consumer, it was expected that the
significant potential in optimization exists in the field of energy consumption and energy efficiency.
Increased efficiency in the use of energy is at the same time a way to reduce environmental impacts
of energy use (Saygin et al., 2012).

3. Analysis of system
The experimental determination of the reaction rates was performed in the gasoline furnaces (by
monitoring the partial pressures of the reactants). For the purpose of achieving energy conservation,
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 261

the effects of the ratio reduction of the dilution steam (DS steam) and the gasoline (CH) were analyzed,
as well as the reduction of the pressure of the dilution steam. Bearing in mind that the reduction of the
DS/CH ratio leads to more rapid condensation reactions, or a greater production of pyro-oil and coke,
and lower production of ethylene, pressure was optimized and the reduction of the pressure of dilution
steam was performed to a level where it is condensed before entering the furnace.
The analysis of the experimentally obtained data led to the conclusion that the DS/CH ratio
should be reduced from 0.60 to 0.50 (which neither significantly influenced the degree of product
conversion nor the constant cracking severity), whereas the pressure in the dilution steam system
was gradually being decreased from 11.2 to 9.8 bar.
The analysis of the influence of the suggested measure on the energy consumption was performed
by the comparison of the data for six gasoline furnaces, and the significant energy conservation
results were obtained. The achieved reduction in terms of natural gas consumption was by 30%
which presents reduction of total energy consumption by 2.7%. The consumption of demineralized
water (DMW) was also reduced by 20%.
As displayed in other industrial complexes (Saygin et al., 2011a,b; Silva et al., 2013), the total site
integration of steam systems leads to the significant economic savings. In case of HIP-Petrohemija, deep
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analysis and optimization of steam generation system was performed and the best solution (based on
process demands and energy savings) was to connect the excess of medium pressure steam (SM) from
the Ethylene plant to the medium pressure steam system of HIP-Petrohemija. In addition, this leads to the
increase of the operation safety (in case of the boiler failure in the Utility Plant, the emergency need for the
medium pressure steam for the plants LDPE and HDPE would be compensated from the Ethylene Plant).
Bearing in mind that in the steam system of HIP-Petrohemija already there are some connections
between the Ethylene Plant and the Utility Plant (between the medium and high pressure super-
heated steam, and the low pressure steam system), the installment of this connection would
completely integrate the steam system of HIP-Petrohemija.
By the analysis of the low pressure steam condensate system operation (SCL), it was determined
that the operating pressure in this system is higher than required by 1.5–1.6 bar, which causes a
difficult operation of the reboilers and requires a higher operating pressure in the system of low
pressure steam (min 5 bar). This, to some extent, disturbs the steam balance of the whole Ethylene
Plant. The altered energy balance of the steam turbines (higher value of the output enthalpy than
expected) causes the decrease in the efficiency of the operation of the steam turbines powered by the
medium pressure steam (SM), which produce the low pressure steam (SL). In order to obtain a more
efficient system in terms of energy, a vessel is installed to collect the condensate from the sections of
hot and cold fractionation. The pressure in the vessel would be around 1.1–1.2 bar which would
enable the unobstructed flow of the condensate to the vessel and eliminate the loss into to the
atmosphere, whereas the efficient area for the exchange of the heat in the vertical reboilers would be
increased. Thus, the system operating pressure potentially could be lower than 4 bar which would
lead to the higher enthalpy utilization of the superheated medium pressure steam on the turbines.
The calculated savings are as follows: lower consumption of the low pressure steam for heating
from 0.5 to 1 t/h (depends on operation case), the loss of the low pressure steam into the atmosphere
on the flesh vessel to 0.5 t/h, and the loss of the condensate into the atmosphere approximately
(summer/winter period) to 0.5 t/h.
High production cost of the high pressure steam and prevention of the overloading of boilers and
superheaters are just some of the reasons for performing the analysis of the possibility of the
replacement of some steam turbines by electric motors. Also, the optimization of the operation of
the energy system was performed by modeling the energy requirements of the complex, determining
the possibility of the exchange of one type of fuel with another, optimizing the operation of the
turbines, etc. The analysis of the process system was performed by the use of the in-house software
designed for the energy analysis of the system for steam and/or electric energy production. The
system was analyzed for the total processing capacity of 76.46 t/h of the naphtha and the scheme of
the analyzed steam system is presented in Figure 1.
 262 B. VUKADINOVIĆ ET AL.
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Figure 1. Schematic presentation of the steam system before the reconstruction (B-1 A/B: two boilers for steam production; F-1 A/H:
pyrolytical furnaces; F-2 A/B: two ethane furnaces; B-2 A/B: superheaters; RT1-3: turbines; P1-8 boiler feed water pumps; M1-6:
separators).

Bearing in mind the scope of the planned investments, the savings are calculated and displayed
for system based on energy obtained using natural gas (LHV of 33 MJ/Nm3), where natural gas
consumption is: for the production of high pressure steam in the Ethylene plant – 80 Nm3/t; for the
superheating of high pressure steam to high pressure superheated steam (SSH) – 25 Nm3/t; for the
production of the high pressure steam in the Utility Plant – 78 Nm3/t. Cost of natural gas is adopted
as 0.4 EUR/Nm3 and the cost of electric energy 0.08 EUR/KWh. The reduction of the consumption
of the medium pressure steam due to the reduction of the DS/CH ratio in the furnaces was not
included in the calculation.
Based on the energy system modeling and optimization, the proposed solution is presented in Figure 2.
By the implementation of these measures (replacement of the turbo-driven motors of one turbine
and one pump by electro motors), the needs for high pressure steam produced by the boilers were
reduced by 21 t/h; the required amount of the steam superheated on the superheaters was decreased
by 21 t/h; the disconnection of one of the boilers would additionally save more electric energy
(approximately 955 MWh/year). Likewise, the consumption of electric energy was increased by
3,100 kWh/h. Based on the prior data it was estimated that the savings would be 5.15 MEUR/year.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 263
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Figure 2. Schematic presentation of the steam system after the reconstruction (B-1 A/B: two boilers for steam production; F-1 A/H:
pyrolytical furnaces; F-2 A/B: two ethane furnaces; B-2 A/B: superheaters; RT1-2: turbines; P1-8 boiler feed water pumps; M1-6:
separators).

4. Environmental impact of applied options

Implementation of described cleaner production options led to the major economical savings, but at
the same time to significant benefits for the environment. Environmental impact was analyzed for
different categories related to the reduction of pollutants into the air, reduction of emissions to the
water and material utilization, and reduction of waste generation.
As it was expected for an energy intensive industry such as HIP-Petrohemija, majority of analyzed
options are technical measures to lower energy consumption and improve energy efficiency. In order
to present the environmental impact of energy use, the impact category climate change is introduced. It
is expressed as a total emission of GHG in CO2 equivalents (CO2e). Emissions were calculated for both,
consumption of thermal energy as direct and consumption of electricity as indirect contribution to the
environmental impact. Standard IPCC emission factor was used for natural gas (UNIDO, 2011)
and carbon emission factor (CEF) for the Serbian Power Grid (Van Caneghem et al., 2010) based on
the calculation tool approved by UNFCC.
 264 B. VUKADINOVIĆ ET AL.

Described energy efficiency measures have decreased the gas consumption by 6% and industrial
greenhouse gas emissions by 9 tons of CO2e.
Additional reduction in energy consumption is achieved by regular monitoring and maintenance,
by implementation of so-called good housekeeping measures, mainly in the Utility Plant. Within the
period of one year 200 m2 of insulation was installed on more than 50 sites including the valves,
piping, and flanges. The savings of 1,250 t in the steam production were achieved, 100,000 Nm3 in
the gas consumption, and 90 t in the oil fuel consumption. The repair and replacement of the faulty
steam traps led to the additional savings and reduction of the gas consumption by 192,000 Nm3. The
return condensate from the heat exchanger was restored for the heating of the administrative
building and laboratory which reduced the oil fuel consumption by 67.3 t. More than 1,000 steam
leaks of 1 mm in diameter were recovered which reduced the gas consumption by 80,000 Nm3.
In addition to the energy utilization, there are other benefits such as reduction of consumption of
demineralized water by 99,200 m3 and chemicals by 80 tons.

5. Conclusion
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The proposed approach in the study is focused on examining the present condition of a petrochemical
complex, with the aim to analyze its operation and the possibility of increasing its efficiency.
Standard cleaner production methodology was used, but modified and adapted to the conditions
and needs of the plant. The specific environmental indicators were developed and used in the
analysis, and the system parameters required for the process analysis were obtained by in situ
measurements, laboratory testing, and by process modeling. The implemented measures resulted
in a decrease in energy consumption by 6% and related greenhouse gas emissions by 9 tons of CO2e.
The significance of the displayed results lies in the fact that the principles of the applied
methodology and analysis can be used with other types of industry.

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