Pioneering sustainability: How circular economy can reinvent refineries

Refineries are a critical link in the energy supply chain, connecting crude oil extraction to refined product delivery to consumers. Positioned in the middle of the supply chain, they are vulnerable to rising oil prices and have limited ability to raise their selling prices to consumers for refined products. Plus, these essential processes also come with a cost, both financially and environmentally. The introduction of stricter emission limits at the federal and provincial levels further complicates this situation.

Against this quickly changing landscape, refineries are under increasing pressure to improve energy efficiency and sustainability — making profitability and competitiveness a constant struggle and creating the need to find new solutions.

The Case for the Circular Economy in the Refining Industry

We currently live in a linear, take-make-waste economy. Products are used and then discarded, limiting our access to precious and frequently scarce natural resources while also contributing to pollution, such as through CO₂ emissions.

There is a solution for this, and it’s called the circular economy. In a circular economy, the entire product lifecycle of a process is designed to eliminate waste and pollution. When one product is no longer viable, its materials and components are put back into use in other ways. Everything is recirculated, leading to the regeneration seen in natural systems.

In other words, nothing goes to waste, and all our natural resources are used in the most efficient way, again and again. Products are developed using renewable energy, and within production processes, water, chemicals, and materials are reused, reduced, and recycled. By-products are extracted to enter other circular systems. The product is then used for as long as possible. If broken, a product is repaired instead of thrown away. At the end of a product’s lifecycle, its constituent components are recycled to be put back into production again, completing the circle. Biological material that is not recycled instead degrades and is renewed with sunlight, CO₂, and nutrients to enable the growth of new natural resources.

Getting Started with the Circular Economy

Moving towards a circular economy in refineries represents a significant change and may seem overwhelming at first, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many different options that you can take to start on this path.

Conducting an energy audit is a great way to get started on developing a comprehensive energy management program. It will also reveal where all the potential for significant savings can be found in your refinery.

Identifying and recovering waste heat in your refinery provides an excellent opportunity for reuse and savings. Waste heat recovery can help cut CO₂ emissions from the start and will result in immediate cost savings. Installing advanced technologies will increase efficiency. Recapturing lost heat improves the bottom line and sustainability of refinery operations over time.

Hydrogen is becoming a significant fuel in the new energy environment. Investing in blue hydrogen production and installing cost-efficient heat exchangers with minimal plot space can improve your refinery's CO₂ capture efficiency, reduce energy and cooling water consumption, and further reduce project CAPEX.

Carbon capture is another means to become more efficient and also for reuse. While small-scale CCU plants have been around for decades, large-scale facilities are becoming more common. Once captured, CO₂ is typically stored in geological formations, preventing its emission into the atmosphere. But now, it is becoming more feasible to reuse the captured carbon in other processes and products, such as cement, as an example.

These are but a few examples of what can be done to start on the journey towards making your refinery more efficient, sustainable, and a contributor to the circular economy. There are still many more opportunities that can be found.

How Alfa Laval Can Help

Thanks to our unique understanding of separation and thermal technologies, Alfa Laval has led the way in the development of new solutions to advance the circular economy, which are well suited to refineries. We can help you improve resource efficiency and the reduction, reuse, and recycling of waste to optimize your production processes for more reliable and sustainable performance.

Alfa Laval has the technologies and expertise to make your refinery more energy efficient, capable of contributing to the circular economy while reaping the benefits of sustainability and making a positive contribution to the environment.

Want to learn more? Download a copy of our e-book, Rising to the Sustainability Challenge and Remaining Profitable: A Path Forward for Refineries, today.