Quantifying non-energy benefits for energy-intensive industry – a case study of heat recovery measures in a Swedish oil refinery

Panel: 3. Energy management

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Sofie Marton, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Elin Svensson, CIT Industriell Energi, Sweden
Simon Harvey, Chalmers, Sweden

Abstract

Energy efficiency is of great importance to reduce fuel usage and related emissions in energy-intensive industry. Since heat is used extensively in energy-intensive industry, one major option to reduce energy consumption is increased heat integration. Many energy efficiency measures are profitable based on energy cost savings alone. Furthermore, non-energy benefits may substantially strengthen the attractiveness of an energy efficiency measure and increase its priority in the decision-making process of new investment projects. Although many studies in a variety of industrial sectors have identified the importance of non-energy benefits, few have quantified their monetary value in energy-intensive industries.

This paper aims to quantify the economic value of selected non-energy benefits for a few examples of heat recovery measures in an oil refinery and compare this to the energy cost reduction of the energy efficiency measures. In a previous study, heat integration retrofits were designed and discussed in an interview study with refinery engineers. In the interview study, several non-energy benefits were identified for the designed retrofit measures, which are now investigated in further detail in this paper.

The non-energy benefits quantified are production increase and greenhouse gas emission reduction. Other non-energy benefits are discussed. The results show that non-energy benefits can contribute more to the cost benefits of the energy efficiency measures than the fuel cost savings. This highlights the importance of considering non-energy benefits at an early design stage when designing energy efficiency measures.

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