A substantial reduction in energy consumption can be achieved at the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) refinery of Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, by retrofitting one of two distillation plants.
As part of a larger program to reduce energy consumption in Mexican refineries, Pemex commissioned Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo (IMP) to identify opportunities for reduced energy consumption in the refinery of Tula, Hidalgo.
As a result of this study, IMP proposed a retrofit of the crude-distillation unit to reduce fuel consumption by more than 40%. This will save about $8 million/year and result in a payback period of less than 2 years.
Implementation of IMP's suggestions is on hold, pending development of the economic environment of the refining industry.
Using pinch-analysis techniques for energy analysis, IMP's design considers heat integration between the atmospheric and vacuum distillation units. The original design did not consider this heat integration.
The objectives of the redesign were to maximize distillate yields, meet stricter product specifications, and reduce energy consumption.
IMP used a method proposed by Liebmann1 to simultaneously analyze the atmospheric and vacuum distillation units and the heat-exchanger network. The authors also addressed trade-offs between heat recovery in the network and column hydraulics when defining the pump-around temperature.