Catching Big Fish in Muddy Water A Comprehensive FCC Revamp Study Identifies Major Reliability and Margin Improvements

摘要

US refineries continue to face difficult challenges due to the economic downturn. FCC margin improvement can be a significant leverage to improve refinery profitability, but it competes with other priorities, such as unit operation and reliability. A winning strategy during this challenging time would be to conduct a comprehensive study that combines unit operation and reliability goals with margin improvements synergistically. This paper presents an example of how Shell Global Solutions worked closely with Hovensa to conduct a comprehensive FCC study to identify root causes of known problems and solutions to correct those problems. The study identifies an opportunity greater than $100MM per year of combined benefits in margin, operational, reliability and cost improvements.