Method makes refineries more efficient

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Refineries could trim millions of dollars in energy costs annually by using a new method developed at Purdue University to rearrange the distillation sequence needed to separate crude petroleum into products.

The researchers have demonstrated their method on petroleum plants that separate crude, showing that 70 of the new sequences they identified could enable oil refineries to improve the energy efficiency of this step anywhere from 6 percent to 48 percent, said Rakesh Agrawal, the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering.

“This is important because improving efficiency by 10 percent at a refinery processing 250,000 barrels per day would save in excess of $12 million a year if oil were priced at $70 a barrel,” said Agrawal, who is working with doctoral student Vishesh Shah. “And that’s just a single refinery. For the U.S. petroleum industry as a whole, this is a huge potential savings.”

Purdue