A Successful Approach to Improve Energy Utilization in Ethylene Units

摘要

Energy represents a significant portion of the cost to produce ethylene in anrnolefins plant. With the recent increases in energy costs and corporaterncommitment to reducing CO2 emissions, Shell Chemical Company has embarkedrnon a program to identify and implement quick payback energy reductionrnopportunities in its ethylene plants through the Shell Global Solutions energyrnmanagement program. The energy management program has successfullyrnreduced energy and variable costs by 3 to 5 % at the ethylene plants with shortrnimplementation time, quick payback projects. In this paper, the energyrnmanagement program will be referred to as the Energize Program. Energizernprojects identified and implemented at the ethylene plants include operationalrnchanges, and expense and low capital cost projects that have resulted in energyrnreduction, reliability improvement, yield improvement, and capacity creep.rnOur experience is that the plant engineers and specialists are very busyrnoperating the units and do not have sufficient time to work on energyrnimprovement projects. Many good ideas that staff and operators have thatrnrequire further evaluation and development tend to not get worked on. ThernEnergize team brings additional process engineer resources into the plant tornwork with the staff to scope and implement the projects. Working closely withrnplant personnel insures staff ownership of the projects and will help sustain thernsavings after the Energize team leaves. The paper will discuss the makeup of anrnEnergize team, the methodology of study, and the timeline for implementing arnplant program.