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Refining Reducing: The Circular Ecoomy in Oil & Gas

By AES Editors
Production volumes of oil refineries are huge as are their carbon footprints, so even a small reduction in their waste can have an outsize impact. Recycling anything and everything possible from the refining process, like raw materials, water, and energy can also result in real benefits. What one person calls "waste" can be someone else's raw material in a true circular economy.

​
The basic principle of oil refining involves heating crude oil to separate different fractions through distillation. This separation process results in gasoline, aviation fuel, and diesel, as well as heavier fractions, such as heating oil, bunker fuel, and bitumen. Crude oil fractions can also be turned into base oil, which is used to manufacture lubricating oils. When the different fractions have been separated the challenging part of the process begins, and that’s where attention to waste reduction is critical.
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Gas and Metals

The refining process also generates a variety of gases. Hydrocarbon gases can be used in the refinery's own energy production, and some of the gases are recovered and sold as feedstock to the petrochemical industry. CO2 that’s partly recovered in the hydrogen production unit can be purified further and used as a propellant, in the food industry, or as an extinguishing media.


Unwanted substances like sulfur can be recovered and provided as raw material to the chemical industry. Precious metals like vanadium can be separated and given a second life. Vanadium-steel alloys are used in gears, axles and crankshafts, and vanadium-gallium tape is used in superconducting magnets. Catalysts, usually tiny aluminum oxide granules with a small amount of precious metals on their surface, are used to speed up the refining process. When they need to be replaced, the metals, like platinum, can be recovered from the spent catalyst.

Water and Energy

Resource efficiency principles can also be applied to energy, with extra heat generated by the refinery’s heat exchanger also being utilized. The average refinery requires 2.5 gallons of water for every gallon of crude oil processed. Depending on the type of crude oil, composition of condensate and treatment processes, the characteristics of refinery wastewater varies widely, but recycling the water can remove harmful pollutants.

Refineries can reuse the heat they generate.
Recycling oil-bearing secondary materials can produce a solids cake that can be disposed of in landfills as non-hazardous waste. Refineries committed to the circular economy can generate hardly any waste comparable to their output, other than some salts and sand. This recycling process helps reduce environmental risk while recovering an estimated 31,000 barrels of oil per year, reducing the industry’s dangerous emissions.

Sources:
Treatment and Recycling of Wastewater from Oil Refinery/Petroleum Industry
​
Nothing Goes to Waste
Recycling Provides Sustainable Solution for Refinery

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  • Members Login >>
    • Energy Today Archive >
      • Leading Change
      • Zero Emissions
      • Interactive Map
      • Floating Wind
      • Quick Hits
      • Steven Chu
      • Dan Poneman
      • Melanie Kenderdine
      • Chris Gould
      • UNSDSN
      • Data as a Tool
      • Change Through Organizing
      • MK Dorsey
      • Social Impact Start-Ups
      • Social Impact Entrepreneurs
      • A Network for the Heartland
      • Ecosystem Maps
      • Clean Energy By 2035
      • Bioremediation
      • Energy Storage-Video
      • Geothermal Energy
      • Commodity Chemical
      • PM Careers In Cleantech
      • Critical Breakthroughs
      • Losing Our Way
      • The Third Rail
      • Mapping the Seas
      • Low-Carbon Midwest
      • Smart Grid
      • Decarbonization
      • Getting to Zero
      • Climate Risk and Response
      • Our Infrastructure Is Being Built For a Climate That's Already Gone
      • Energy History
      • Battery Recycling
      • Quantum Waves
      • Coal REE
      • Fueling Big Rigs
      • Sandia Initiatives
      • Natural Gas Revolution
      • Duck Chart
      • Carbon Crossroads
      • Electric Cars
      • Energy Jobs Coalition
      • Indispensable Electricity
      • Post-Pandemic Predictions
      • Building Infrastructure
      • De-Prioritizing Cars
      • Vicki Hollub
      • Emily Kirsch
      • Lise Meitner
      • Lets Listen
      • COVID-19 and China Air
      • COVID-19 and Oil
      • COVID-19 and Solar
      • COVID-19 and Storage
      • Immorality of Waste
      • Rethinking "Disposable"
      • Second Life of Wind Turbines
      • Rare Earth Elements
      • Coal: Ashes to REM
      • Platinum and Cobalt
      • Geoengineering the Planet
      • An Atmospheric Industry
      • L.A. Hydrogen Plant
      • Pebbles, Sponges and Fans
      • CO2 Into Fuel
      • Superpower
      • The Fate of Food
      • Power Trip
      • Signs on the Earth
      • The Dreamt Land
      • Double Jeopardy
      • 7 Trends In Mineral Mining
      • The Prize - an excerpt
      • REM From Coal
      • The Deep Sea - The Next Gold Rush
      • Geothermal - Salvation or Earthquakes
      • The Myth of the Sustainabie City
      • The Emerging Circular Economy
      • How Cities Can Become More Resilient
      • Prosperity for One, Disaster for Another
      • The Real Energy Revolution
      • Carbon Loophole
      • Op-Ed: CO2 Reduction Thru Biofuels
      • The Sun Also Accelerates
      • Blowing Past the Zettabyte Era
      • Jack Voltaic: A Cyber Simulation Wargame
      • Managing Risk
      • From Russia, With Love
      • Ukraine: The Cyber-War Test Bed
      • 5G Requires A New Approach
      • Climate Change or Just Weather
      • Gone
      • Surge Flooding - Houston
      • Tug of War: Pollution Masks Impact of Climate Change
      • Climate Change Needs the Humanities
      • Nuclear Power: A Dilemma for Climate Change Philanthropy
      • Did California Trump the Clean Air Rollback
      • A Redundancy Dilemma
      • Double Jeopardy - a bonus excerpt
      • The War of the Currents
      • There Will Be Buyouts
      • Space Research Can Save the Planet
      • California's Oil Hypocrisy
      • Robert Merton
      • Africa: The New O&G Frontier
      • Why Oil Markets Aren't Reacting
      • Capitalism and Climate Change
      • The Frackers
      • Double Jeopardy
      • The Grid
      • Designing Climate Solutions
      • Making Tech Miracles
      • Best In Snow
      • Plastic Do-Over
      • The New Nuclear
      • Global Energy Insecurity
      • Renewable Energy and Geopolitics
      • The Myth of Energy Security
      • Residential Storage Security
      • An Insecure GND
      • Water, Food and Energy Security
      • The Transformation of the O&G Sector
      • Wild Fire
      • Ocean Pollution At High-Tide
      • CC's Fuzzy Math
      • A Climate Casualty of a Different Kind
      • Plants Store CO2 Too
      • 45Q for CarbonTech
      • CC's Potential Pitfalls
      • Klaus’s wacky idea
      • Permitting Geological Sequestration
      • A New Era of Energy Innovation
      • Investment in O&G Set to Soar
      • Old Capital Strategies, New Thinking
      • BofA Builds Green Revolution
      • We'd Rather Quit OPEC...
      • One Belt, One Road, No Plan
      • Coal fight turns ugly
      • As the World Warms
      • Oil Diplomacy
      • George Mitchell
      • Nicole Poindexter
      • Dan Kammen
      • Regina Mayor
      • Jessica Matthews
      • Bonus: Refining Reducing
      • Bonus: Energy Investment Trends
      • Bonus: The US has lost the rare earths
      • Bonus: Fossil-tech survey results
      • Bonus article: The New Age of Electricity
      • Bonus - Plan B: Geoengineering
      • Bonus: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Fossil-Tech
      • Bonus: Cyber Attack Timeline
      • Bonus: Employees - Cyber Threats and Assets
      • Bonus: Transportation, Jetson's Style
      • Bonus Article for Members
      • Bonus article - Infrastructure Failure
      • Bonus: Hydrogen Fuel From Coal
      • Bonus: Cities Not Meeting Targets
      • Bonus: Carbon Sequestering Fungi
      • Bonus: The Earthshot Prize
      • Bonus: A Radioactive Discovery