Research Article

Published: 2024-06-24
https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadEnergy6256

Heat integration retrofit for a sustainable energy-

efficient design: a case study of Aramco’s refinery
Abdulrahman Hazazi1,*, Zeeshan Farooq1

Academic Editor: Dawei Liang

Abstract
One of the main factors to consider when building an industrial plant is the life cycle cost, which opposes several energy efficiency
considerations. Throughout running the plant and with the advancement of technologies, several economically attractive modifications
start to appear. In addition, the environmental impact of fossil-fuel burning has prompted the efforts to minimize carbon emissions
through energy efficiency enhancement. This paper illustrates, through a case study, the concept of the near-optimum synergy for
utility-process systems integration of a full conversion oil refinery plant. The objective of this study is to identify all technically and
economically viable operation and design options/actions/modifications that reduce the facility’s overall energy demand and
greenhouse gas emissions. The study included several energy efficiency enhancement approaches to reach the optimum utility-process
systems integration of existing refineries at minimum capital cost. The analysis started by identifying the major equipment, the heat
exchanger network (HEN), and the overall site plot plan. The case study covers optimizing the energy demand and supply side to reach
profitable and greener utility-process systems synergy. The enhancement options include load management, waste heat recovery, HEN
optimization, and optimum energy supply.

Keywords: energy efficiency, sustainability, energy integration, pinch technology, retrofit, GHG emissions reduction

Citation: Hazazi A, Farooq Z. Heat integration retrofit for a sustainable energy-efficient design: a case study of Aramco’s refinery.
Academia Green Energy 2024;1. https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadEnergy6256

1. Introduction
1.1. Background larger heat exchangers. The trade-off between operating costs and
Energy-efficient facility is pursued during the design stages to capital costs should be used to choose the optimum value of ΔTmin
maximize the profitability of the project. The pinch technology is for the network. Pinch analysis is used for new design and retrofit
a technique used to optimize the energy requirement in the projects. Additional heat exchanger surface area is required in
process. It is a systematic procedure used to optimize the energy retrofit modification for increased energy saving in the site [1, 2].
in the overall site. The methods followed hierarchy in designing Defining the HEN design fixes the heat and power requirements
the process are reactors, separators, heat exchanger networks of the facility. Furthermore, an industrial facility undergoes
(HENs), and finally utilities. Once the reactor is designed and the multiple retrofits through the facility’s life cycle to account for
process parameters around the reactor are defined, the separator any operational change/requirement. Accordingly, the total site
can be designed. Accordingly, all hot and cold streams are de- energy profile is impacted and an overall analysis of the system is
fined to design the HEN. Finally, the remaining required heating needed to improve the energy efficiency [3].
and cooling are supplied by the utilities system [1, 2].

In HEN synthesis and retrofit, pinch analysis provides a target 1.2. Objectives
for the minimum energy consumption through the composite Energy efficiency enhancement is a dynamic and continuous process
curve. The composite curve is a temperature-enthalpy repre- that is required over time. The driver of such enhancement is usually
sentation of all hot and cold streams in the process. Setting up the continuing technological advancement, the changed product
the composite curve of the processes generates a minimum specifications, and the increasing energy prices. This paper illus-
permissible temperature difference between hot and cold trates the “near-optimum utility-process systems synergy” concept
streams (ΔTmin) that works as the basis for designing the HEN. in a full conversion oil refinery through a case study. The total site
The ΔTmin represents the smallest gap in temperature across energy efficiency assessment and enhancement consider the opti-
which heat transfer will occur in the system [1, 2]. mum integration between the demand and supply side of the
refinery. The enhancement options include load management, waste
Low-temperature differences decrease the need for additional
heat recovery, HEN optimization, and optimum energy supply.
utilities but require increasingly large heat transfer areas, meaning

1Process and Control Systems Department, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran 34481, Saudi Arabia.
*email: [email protected]; [email protected]

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1.3. Description refinery has the following major plants: stabilization unit,
The studied plant is a full conversion refinery with an independ- desalting unit, crude and vacuum distillation unit (CDU and
ent utility plant. The facility has a 130-MBD oil processing VDU), hydrocracker unit, hydrogen unit, platformer unit, gas
facility. Figure 1 reflects the overall facility plot plan. concentration unit, sour water stripper unit, diesel hydrotreater
unit, and naphtha isomerization unit. The crude is processed
The utility plant has three cogeneration units along with supple- through the CDU and VDU to produce liquefied petroleum gas
mentary firings producing high-pressure (HP) steam. Also, there (LPG), whole naphtha, kerosene, diesel, vacuum gas oil, and
are two boilers, one is running at its minimum load. All boilers residue. These products are further processed to produce useful
are available to maintain the steam reserve requirement. The products.

Figure 1 • Facility plot plan.

In the refinery, the crude first processes through a stabilization The refinery HENs recover heat from products and pump-around
unit to remove light hydrocarbon vapors from un-stabilized streams and utilize it to heat the other streams with the purpose
crude oil. Then, the crude is sent to the desalting unit for remov- of reducing the overall heating demand. The recovered streams
ing entrained water, salt, and other impurities from stabilized are high-grade hot streams, while the low-grade streams are
crude oil. The crude is then processed in the crude unit to usually rejected to the atmosphere. The refinery major pumps
separate the various fractions of crude oil into different useful have spare pump with different drivers that are included in the
products, such as gas oils, kerosene, gasoline, and naphtha. The combined heat and power (CHP) supply sides optimization.
remaining heavy oil is sent to a vacuum distillation plant to
maximize the separation of reduced crude oil. The vacuum
column operates at very low pressure (LP) to allow temperatures 2. Approach
to achieve the desired distillate production and inhibit thermal Following the hierarchy of process design and optimization, the
cracking that normally occurs at higher temperatures and first step carried out is optimizing the operation of heat and
pressures. The produced vacuum gas oil is processed in the power systems. Afterward, the overall site energy requirement is
hydrocracker unit to be converted into specification grade LPG, analyzed to identify performance improvement opportunities.
light naphtha, heavy naphtha, kerosene, light diesel oil (LDO),
and heavy diesel oil (HDO) products. The refinery has a hydrogen 2.1. Combined heat and power
plant that is designed to produce high-purity hydrogen of 95%
minimum purity by the steam/hydrocarbon reforming method, The refinery is supplied with heat through hot oil for some of the
for use in the hydrocracking plant. area and steam for the remaining units. The hot oil system (HOS)
is mainly used in crude stabilization and desalting. The steam
The refinery has a gas concentration unit, which separates lighter supplied to the refinery is produced from the utility plan along
components from LPG. The refinery also has hydrotreater units such with some process heat boilers. The utility plant has two boilers
as naphtha, kerosene, and diesel hydrotreating units to remove and three cogeneration units along with supplementary firings
contaminants in the products for further processing. The light producing HP steam. A CHP model is developed to represent the
naphtha is processed in an isomerization unit to upgrade it into facility’s CHP operation. In the CHP model, all the steam/power/
gasoline. Whereas, the heavy naphtha is processed in a platformer fuel users or producers are included in the CHP. Figure 2 shows
unit to upgrade it into high-octane gasoline blending components. the facility-developed CHP model.

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Figure 2 • Refinery developed CHP model.

The CHP system includes three main steam headers, which are units. The technique provides an estimate for the minimum
HP, medium pressure (MP), and LP. The steam header pressure required energy, network area, and units needed for a given
and temperature values are 42.5 kg/cm2 and 380°C for HP, 10.5 process stream. Afterward, the optimization of the network starts
kg/cm2 and 220°C for MP, and 3.5 kg/cm2 and 180°C for LP. The through a comparison between network’s energy costs and capi-
model is used to optimize the supply side by operating the most tal costs to increase the total savings.
efficient boilers and eliminating any inefficiency/excess steam in
the system.
2.3. Total site
The CHP is updated and used to estimate the fuel and power All units in the refinery had been evaluated for energy efficiency
savings for each proposed modification. The facility CHP system enhancement opportunities. Each unit in HEN configuration and
is designed with N+2 sparing philosophy, which considers steam energy requirement is analyzed for energy efficiency improve-
capacity sufficient to meet facility steam demand along with the ment. The systems are analyzed to optimize the energy consump-
required steam reserve and accounts for one unit under mainte- tion in the refinery. The heat is recovered from the system, which
nance. Several steam users were designed to have a higher quality is being wasted in tempered water systems and air coolers. Also,
steam than required [4]. some heat is obtained from services that require less quality than
existing ones. The proposed enhancement includes generating
2.2. HEN in plants steam from wasted heat and using lower-quality steam as appli-
The HENs for all plants are represented in a visual platform for the cable. These improvements will lead to the demolition of the
complete process/plant. Also, all networks are simulated and HOS-fired heater and cut all associated emissions.
modeled with actual plant data. A composite temperature-en-
thalpy graph can be used to set targets for process-to-process heat
recovery, furnace duty, and cooling loads. The overall heat and 3. Case study
material balance are validated against the design data to ensure This example illustrates the approach followed to reach the total
minimized error. By doing so, the base case is established for the site optimum solution.
user to propose a more optimized network. Several network
improvement solutions that include process-process modification
and process-utility modification can be proposed for the enhance- 3.1. Simulation and data extraction
ment. As the refinery is composed of multiple units, since the HEN The system under study is the total refinery with a focus on the
exists, the ΔTmin used for each unit is found through the Aspen HOS. The HOS is used to heat four heat exchangers (Z2-E12, Z2-
Energy Analyzer (Aspen Technology, Inc., Bedford, MA, USA). The E8, Z2-E2A/B, and Z85-E212) in the stabilization unit and the
trade-off between operating costs and capital costs is used to desalting unit. The total refinery HENs are analyzed to minimize
choose the minimum approach temperature for the network. or eliminate the hot utility provided by fired heater H1 as shown
In addition to the capital cost, some constraints make the HEN in Figure 3. The required heat could be recovered from other
difficult to optimize such as safety and operational constrain. systems, which have wasted hot streams in tempered water
Using the pinch technology allows a structural approach to systems and air coolers.
analyze the unit and cover all attractive enhancement solutions. The stabilization unit and the desalting unit are the main users of
The approach ensures that all “high-return, low-risk items” are the HOS. The two units are adjacent to the CDU and VDU where
captured before proceeding to complex solutions. It also ensures potential heat integration is possible. CDU and VDU HENs are
that all improvement opportunities within a unit in the facility illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, respectively.
are captured before proceeding to the improvement between the

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Figure 3 • Hot oil system.

Figure 4 • Crude distillation unit (CDU).

Figure 5 • Vacuum distillation unit (VDU).

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3.2. Base case design with the optimum integration. All solutions are combined
Priority is given to minimizing or eliminating the need for HOS to come up with the final complex solution. The crude stabilizer
since heat integration opportunities are possible from adjacent and desalting unit’s targeted exchangers are extracted and used
plants. Different solutions are explored to achieve a sustainable in the analysis. Targeted streams extracted data are shown in
Table 1.

Table 1 • Hot oil system supplied exchangers

# Stream name Heat exchanger Tin (°C) Tout (°C) Duty (GCAL/h)
1 Stabilized crude Z2-E2 103 131 39.9

2 Debutanizer reboiler Z2-E8 174 175 5

3 Naphtha splitter reboiler Z2-E12 253 254 5.93

4 Crude Z85-E212 66.8 82.2 5

The solution includes finding a substitute to provide the required 3.3. First modification
heat requirement for each stream. Different solutions and ideas Heat integration opportunities from adjacent plants are sought
are explored before reaching the optimum solution. The main since there is no available heat within the crude and desalting
constraint considered is maintaining the outlet temperature of units. CDU and VDU areas are explored through pinch analysis
each stream. In both units, some heat is being rejected; however, to identify heating opportunities that can be utilized. CDU and
the heat quality is not high enough to achieve the targeted outlet VDU data are extracted and used in the analysis. Streams
temperature. extracted data are shown in Table 2.

Table 2 • CDU and VDU heat exchangers data

# Stream name Heat exchanger Tin (°C) Tout (°C) Duty (GCAL/h)
1 TPA and crude Z5-E-1 A/B/C 138 111 14.5

2 TPA and crude Z5-E-1 A/B/C 50 73 14.5

3 LGO and crude Z5-E-2 242 121 8

4 LGO and crude Z5-E-2 73 103 8

5 Crude and HGO Z5-E-0301 238 123 6.1

6 Crude and HGO Z5-E-0301 103 114 6.1

7 Crude and LGO Z5-E-4 A/B 224 168 14

8 Crude and LGO Z5-E-4 A/B 114 153 14

9 Crude-circulating HGO Z5-E-0511/E5 257 185 4.8

10 Crude-circulating HGO Z5-E-0511/E5 153 170 4.8

11 Crude and HVO Z5-E-0601 A/B 269 191 12.8

12 Crude and HVO Z5-E-0601 A/B 170 219 12.8

13 New crude and HGO Z5-E-0103 312 238 10

14 New crude and HGO Z5-E-0103 219 227 10

15 New crude and HGO Z5-E-0105 A/B 315 257 12.2

16 New crude and HGO Z5-E-0105 A/B 227 251 12.2

17 Crude and vacuum reduced crude Z5-E-0701 A/B 366 270.5 9.8

18 Crude and vacuum reduced crude Z5-E-0701 A/B 251 272.5 9.8

19 Stabilizer feed exchanger Z5-E-24 A/B 217 127 8

20 Stabilizer feed exchanger Z5-E-24 A/B 69 164 8

21 Stabilizer reboilers Z5-E-26 A/B 315 230 8.3

22 Stabilizer reboilers Z5-E-26 A/B 217 235 8.3

23 Stabilizer condenser Z5-E-25 90 50 3.6

24 Sour naphtha rundown cooler Z5-E-30 127 60 4.8

25 Trim cooler Z5-E-0311 60 38 1.3

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26 Top pump-around cooler Z5-E-10 111 95 3

27 New crude and HGO cooler Z5-E-0108 257 230 1

28 Crude column overhead condenser Z5-E-8 101 72 17.5

29 Overhead trim cooler Z5-E-9/9A 72 69 1.2

30 Kerosene cooler Z5-E-13 179 87 5.3

31 Kerosene trim cooler Z5-E-14 87 31 0.5

32 Kerosene trim cooler Z5-E-12 87 31 0.5

33 Reduced crude trim coolers Z9-E-32 A/B 110 93 3.7

34 Vacuum residue cooler Z9-E-0231 270.5 144 6.2

35 Vacuum reduced rundown cooler Z9-E-0110 200 132 5.9

36 HVGO coolers Z9-E-0221A/B 120 86 5.2

37 New HVGO cooler Z9-E-0109 191 120 17.4

38 LVGO cooler Z9-E-20 130 57 4.3

39 LVGO trim cooler Z9-E-21 57 40 0.8

40 Crude charge heaters Z5-F-101 272.5 380 53.6

41 Crude charge heaters Z5-F-102 272.5 380 53.6

42 Vacuum heater Z9-F-101 365 407 13.9

Multiple streams are identified for heat integration purposes. Table 3 • First modification of new heat exchangers design
The utilization of the available heat in these streams will not data
completely eliminate the need for the HOS; however, it will
Exchanger Duty, GCAL/h LMTD, °C Area, m2
reduce the load of the furnace. The identified streams are #32,
#40, #37, #38, and #19. The stream’s main process parameters Z2-E-New1 3.7 31.8 200

are maintained in the heat integration. The streams are utilized Z2-E-New2 5.3 21.2 400
to reduce the load of Z2-E2 exchanger. This modification involves
Z2-E-New3 3.2 61 100
the installation of five new heat exchangers. Table 3 illustrates
the design parameters of the new exchanger. Z2-E-New4 5.8 31.4 300

Also, Figure 6 illustrates the proposed solution to reduce the Z2-E-New5 3.4 79.2 100
load of the HOS.

Figure 6 • First modification to reduce the load of the hot oil system.

3.4. Second modification facility is already equipped with a steam system, extra steam
The heat requirement in the stabilization unit and the desalting production opportunities utilizing wasted heat are sought. The
unit from the HOS is reduced by the first modification. In this extra steam quantities are obtained from different locations by
modification, the provided solution eliminates the need for the maintaining the utilities supply system load. The quantity and
HOS completely by providing different heating sources. Since the quality of steam required to completely offload the HOS are
shown in Table 4.

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Table 4 • Crude stabilizer and desalting units steam the facility enables the identification of an ideal solution to
requirement minimize the environmental impact of fuel burning.
# Stream name Heat Duty Steam
exchanger (GCAL/h) type Abbreviations
1 Stabilized crude Z2-E2 18.2 LP
ΔTmin: Minimum permissible temperature difference between
2 Debutanizer reboiler Z2-E8 5 MP hot and cold streams
3 Naphtha splitter Z2-E12 5.93 HP CDU: Crude distillation unit
reboiler
CHP: Combined heat and power
4 Crude Z85-E212 5 LP
E: Heat exchanger
Different steam generation opportunities are identified from
F: Fired heater
other units in the refinery. Most of the heat requirement is met
with the generated steam. The additional steam requirement is H2: Hydrogen
supplied through the utility system to replace all heating require-
HDO: Heavy diesel oil
ments of the HOS. Table 5 shows the generated steam from
other units: HEN: Heat exchanger network

HGO: Heavy gas oil

Table 5 • Steam generation initiative list
HOS: Hot oil system
Duty (GCAL/h)
# Initiative name HP: High pressure
HP MP LP

Producing MP steam and LP steam from HVGO: Heavy vacuum gas oil
1 2.15 0.86
LGO stream LDO: Light diesel oil
Producing MP steam and LP steam from
2 9.03 3.18 LGO: Light gas oil
HVGO and LGO PA
LMTD: Logarithmic mean temperature difference
3 Producing MP steam from HGO PA 1.03
LP: Low pressure
Producing MP steam and LP steam from
4 0.90 2.30
HDO stripper bottom LPG: Liquefied petroleum gas
Producing LP steam from HDO circulation LVGO: Light vacuum gas oil
5 2.00
stream
MP: Medium pressure
Producing LP steam from LDO stripper
6 1.68 PA: Pump around
bottom

7 Producing LP steam from hot stream 2.58 Tin: Inlet temperature

Producing LP steam from kerosene stripper Tout: Outlet temperature

8 1.12
bottom
TPA: Top pump around
Total 0.00 13.11 13.72
VDU: Vacuum distillation unit

The produced steam through waste heat recovery is reflected in

the CHP model. The extra utility required to satisfy the heating Funding
requirement of the exchangers instead of the HOS is 45.2 The authors declare no financial support for the research,
MMbtu/h. The HOS fuel consumption is 227 MMBtu/h. The authorship, or publication of this article.
estimated fuel saving from the first and second modifications is
181.8 MMbtu/h, which is equivalent to 81 Kton CO2/yr.
Author contributions
Conceptualization, Z.F.; methodology, Z.F.; software A.H. and
4. Conclusions Z.F.; validation, Z.F.; formal analysis, A.H. and Z.F.; investigation,
The study basically concentrated on identifying demolishing ideas A.H. and Z.F.; resources, A.H. and Z.F.; data curation, A.H.;
and solutions for the existing HOS through better optimization of writing—original draft preparation, A.H.; writing—review and
the HENs and the utilization of wasted heat. Heat integration and editing, A.H. and Z.F.; visualization, A.H.; supervision, Z.F.;
utilizing available energy is the first step to reduce the energy project administration, A.H.; funding acquisition, A.H. All
demand. Then, the existing HOS is completely demolished through authors have read and agreed to the published version of the
heat recovery solutions with a more efficient energy supply system. manuscript.
The later developed HENs provide more energy-efficient designs.
The energy efficiency enhancement has minimized the carbon
emissions from fossil-fuel burning. The estimated fuel saved is
Conflict of interest
equivalent to 81 Kton CO2/yr. In addition, the holistic analysis of The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or

Data availability statement those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product
Data supporting these findings are available within the article, at that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made
https://doi.org/10.20935/AcadEnergy6256, or upon request. by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the
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Institutional review board statement

Not applicable. Copyright
© 2024 copyright by the authors. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the
Informed consent statement Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
Not applicable. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Sample availability References

The authors declare no physical samples were used in the study. 1. Linnhoff March Ltd. Introduction to Pinch technology.
Available from: https://www.ou.edu/class/che-design/a-
design/Introduction%20to%20Pinch%20Technology-
Additional information LinhoffMarch.pdf
Received: 2024-04-07
2. IPIECA. Pinch analysis. 2022. Available from: https://www.
Accepted: 2024-06-11 ipieca.org/resources/energy-efficiency-solutions/efficient-
Published: 2024-06-24 use-of-heat/pinch-analysis/

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Green Energy 2024, ISSN pending, https://doi.org/10.20935/ trial facility design. In: Xu J, Yang B, editors. Energy con-
AcadEnergy6256. The journal’s official abbreviation is Acad. sumption, conversion, storage, and efficiency. London:
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4. Al-Owaidh M, Hazazi A, Oj S, Dulaijan A. Industrial design

Publisher’s note energy efficiency and GHG emission reduction via steam and
Academia.edu stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims power systems optimization. In: Shahzad MW, Sultan M,
in published maps and institutional affiliations. All claims Dala L, Xu BB, Jiang Y, editors. Alternative energies and
expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not efficiency evaluation. London: IntechOpen; 2022.

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