Oil and gas Downstream
Reinventing
refineries
The transition to a low-carbon economy will require downstream organisations to invest in low-carbon technologies. EIC analyst Tayo Idowu looks at the disruptive technologies transforming the downstream industry
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oday, refining companies face a more challenging and convoluted market. The growth of electric vehicles, more efficient internal combustion engines, and the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy are driving down demand for oil products and ramping up carbon emissions cuts. The ongoing digital transformation being led by automation, analytics and artificial intelligence is also having a profound impact on downstream operations. In order to stay competitive against this backdrop, companies must adopt lowcarbon strategies that account for demand trends and fundamental shifts in regulation, as well as leveraging digital innovation. Using more sustainable feedstocks and looking to disruptive decarbonising technologies will be essential to long-term profitability, but companies will need to consider when to more fully embrace these opportunities while managing the changing risks.
The industry has a clear role in the energy transition. While decarbonisation can seem complex, several solutions are evolving – biofuels from waste, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) and hydrogen.
a higher price from buyers outside the aviation sector. Having secured planning permission recently, the UK’s first green jet fuel refinery looks set for take-off in 2024.
Biofuels from waste
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage
Biofuels are liquid or gaseous fuels derived from waste biomass rather than from fossil fuels. With their renewable nature, advanced biofuels have an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. They also provide a practical alternative to fossil fuels for aviation, shipping and heavy freight trucks. Aviation represents an emerging market. While sustainable aviation fuel is not a new concept, it has seen new urgency following the increasing efforts to tackle climate change. The most likely conversion technology for these advancedbio-jet pathways will be thermochemical, instead of biochemical. This is because intermediate products derived from biochemical routes will probably fetch
CCUS is a critical emissions reduction technology that is capable of reducing carbon emissions along the life cycle of fossil fuels. Although it is not a new technology, large-scale investments are on the rise as ambition increases in the pursuit of net-zero energy system emissions. There are three main approaches to carbon capture: pre-combustion capture, post-combustion capture and oxy-fuel combustion. The chosen technology depends on whether the facility is a new or retrofit plant. Other considerations include capital and operating costs. In pre-combustion capture, steam reforming of the primary fuel produces a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A shift reactor produces CO2 and additional www.the-eic.com | energyfocus
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