INTEGRATING REFINERIES & PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

By Mutlaq H. Al-Morished President Metals Group, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) & Saudi Iron & Steel Co. (HADEED) A SABIC Affiliate ABSTRACT
The petrochemical and refining industries have a shared past. Indeed, in many integrated companies, it is frequently a topic for organizational debate where the refining business ends and chemical business begins. The basic businesses are such that a natural inter-dependence has and always will exist. Beyond the basic integration necessary for existence, however, there lies the integration steps for optimization: Upgraded dispositions for feedstocks, fuel and utilities. These steps are discretionary and subject to economic incentive on a case-by-case basis. In this paper, I will address the existing and future integration opportunities between the refineries and petrochemical plants to improve the margins of both Integration opportunities with the existing structure: - Benzene as feedstock for styrene production. - Aromatics-containing distillate stream for use as compressor wash oil. - C5 minus from refinery hydrocracker operations can be used as feedstock for the chemical plant. - C02 from refinery and methanol production. - Heavy, by-product liquid streams, some containing aromatics, can be reprocessed and upgraded by the refinery. - BTX stream from refinery for xylene and benzene recovery. Future integration opportunities for better margins. - FCC Olefin recovery. - C4/C5 extraction and alkylation. - Steam cracking as an alternate to catalytic reforming. - Steam cracking as an alternate to hydrowax recycle. - Upgrading xylenes as an alternate to H.D.A. - H2s containing stream to replace DMDS in ethylene production. - Utilities integration. - Support staff and facilities integration.

INTRODUCTION
The petrochemical and refining industries have a shared past. Indeed, in many integrated companies, it is frequently a topic for organizational debate where the refining business ends and chemical business begins. The basic businesses are such that a natural interdependence has and always will exist. Beyond the basic integration necessary for existence, however, there lie the integration steps for optimization: upgraded dispositions for feedstocks, fuel and utilities. These steps are discretionary and subject to economic incentive on a case-by-case basis. Up to now, integration for optimization has been driven mainly from the chemical manufacturing side. Chemical manufacturing has historically seen wider fluctuation in margins and thus a greater incentive at various times for efficiency improvement and cost reduction. Additionally, the chemical industry is generally subject to tighter and more changeable specifications and customer demand patterns. But today, refineries are also facing margin pressures, specification changes and varying customer demand. We should now expect to see as much of a push for integration from the refinery side as we have seen from the chemical side in the past. With this overall expectation, let us now turn specifically to the Middle East region. At the current time, chemical plant/refinery integration has not taken place in the Middle East to the extent it has in Europe and North America. The Middle Easts move into large-scale petrochemical production is relatively recent. As an example, most of the affiliate companies of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), the largest petrochemical producer in the region, is scarcely more than a decade old. In this initial decade, the primary goal of these companies was to firmly establish production of each operating company. Consequently, refinery integration has been done to satisfy basic needs. Now, as we in SABIC move forward in our second decade, company goals are expansion and efficiency/optimization related. Thus, there are opportunities for further refinery/chemical plant integration. In this paper, I would like to provide you with: 1. 2. 3. 4. An overview of SABICs production facilities and product slate A summary of SABICs current level of integration with adjacent refineries Potential future integration opportunities, both for SABIC and potentially others within the region. The key points of refinery/chemical plant symbiosis

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)

SABIC is one of the worlds leading producers of petrochemicals. SABIC companies operate 16 manufacturing complexes within Saudi Arabia with additional facilities outside in the GCC region. The 19 affiliated companies are wholly SABIC owned or partnerships. Venture partners include international firms such as Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Hoechst-Celanese, Mitsubishi, Neste, Lucky, etc.; private investors within Saudi Arabia; and other GCC countries. SABICs products are marketed worldwide in more than 100 countries. SABIC also operates marketing services and world-scale research and technology

centers.
SABIC produces a wide slate of petrochemical products including basic monomers, polymers, basic commodity chemicals, fertilizers, metals and industrial gases and, most recently, polyester materials. The primary feedstock for SABIC products is light hydrocarbon gases that are co-produced with crude oil: methane, ethane, propane and butane. Additional feedstocks are benzene, natural gasoline, salt, and iron ore and scrap. SABIC production facilities within Saudi Arabia are primarily located in the Industrial Cities of Al-Jubail and Yanbu. A major refinery is located in each city: Saudi Aramco/ShelI Refinery (SASREF) in Al-Jubail and Saudi Aramco/Mobil Refinery (SAMREF) in Yanbu. SASREF has hydrocracker-based facilities; SAMREF has FCC.

SABICs Current Refinery/Chemical Plant Integration

At the present time, SABIC obtains the following streams from the adjacent refineries: Benzene as feedstock for Styrene production Aromatics-containing distillate stream for use as compressor wash oil

The following streams are returned to the refinery: Benzene/toluene containing by-product stream from Styrene production Used wash oil containing naphtha components produced by ethane cracking to ethylene

As you can see, the amount of integration is relatively small. This has occurred for two reasons: 1. Currently, SABIC production is light-feedstock based. The ethylene process frequently provides the greatest single integration opportunity for refinery integration. Most of SABICs current ethylene production is ethane-based, which results in a relatively low amount of by-products. Integration to this point has been only that to meet basic needs. All of the integration steps mentioned above were components of the basic designs. Typically, integration occurs on a retrofit-basis after facilities are established and frequently is done in response to changing economics or supply constraints. The infrastructure that provides the light gas feedstocks has been sufficient to meet current production capability. However, because of concerns whether the system can meet further increases, greater incentives for integration may come about in the near future.

2.

Opportunities for integration can be placed in two categories: the opportunities that lie within the existing structure and the opportunities that exist as a part of major expansion.

Integration Opportunities with the Existing Structure

Opportunities in this category are those that can be considered without major capital outlay for new processing blocks. The potential for further integration of the existing facilities lie in that the chemical plants have the capability to utilize dilute, light gas streams and the refineries have the capability to utilize dilute, heavier liquid streams. Specifically: C5 minus from refinery hydrocracker operations can be used as feedstock for the chemical plant Heavy, by-product liquid streams, some containing aromatics, can be reprocessed and upgraded by the refinery. BTX stream for benzene and xylenes recovery. C02 from refinery for methanol manufacturing.

Additionally, hydrogen, often in excess of chemical plant operations, can be utilized by the refinery hydrocracker.

Integration Opportunities with Future Growth

Up to this point, I have been describing integration specific to SABIC and its adjacent refineries. Now, I would like to take a broader view to the chemical plant/refinery integration opportunities. We at SABIC are pursuing some of these concepts. Other items that I will discuss do not apply specifically to SABIC because of the nature of our processing or our neighboring refineries processing, but may apply to other chemical plant/refinery relationships elsewhere in the region.

FCC Olefin Recovery

The light olefins produced in Fluidized Catalytic Cracking can be easily incorporated into the ethylene purification process. Since the bulk of the energy consumed in ethylene production is in the cracking process itself, dilute light olefins represent a cost attractive feedstock.

C4/C5 Extraction and Alkylation

Steam Cracking for ethylene can provide C4/C5s for Alkylation with or without extraction of butadiene and isoprene. Alternatively, the C4 stream can be used for MTBE production. This MTBE from the chemical plant can be used in gasoline blending to increase the octane especially in light of all these regulations on RVP, benzene and aromatics in gasoline.

Steam Cracking as an Alternate to Catalytic Reforming

Steam cracking of naphtha can be a preferred disposition to catalytic reforming of naphtha. With steam cracking, not all contribution to the mogas and aromatics pools is lost. The steam cracking process produces a pyrolysis gasoline stream, which contains aromatics. After hydrogenation to remove olefinic gum formers, this stream can go to the mogas blending pool or to aromatics processing.

Steam Cracking as an Alternate to Hydrowax Recycle

Hydrowax, the heavy residue from hydrocracking, is often recycled to extinction in refineries. This highly paraffinic, heavy stream can be an ideal olefins feedstock given the right facilities in the olefins plant. Existing olefin plants cracking liquid feedstocks can be retrofitted in the feed preparation and furnace areas to accept hydrowax.

Upgrading Xylenes as an Alternate to HDA

With todays increasing use of xylenes, there is greater incentive for recovery versus conversion to benzene via hydrodealkylation. This can make the Aromatics complex based on cyclar technology, very attractive.

Utilities Integration
Frequently, chemical plants cannot use all the low level heat available in the condensation of low pressure steam. A refinery can often provide an efficient heat sink for this steam. Additional integration opportunities can exist through linking of utilities and effluent treating or cooperative efforts in establishing co-generation facilities. Caustic from chemical plant can be used in refinery for neutralization and H2S containing stream can be used by the chemical plant to replace DMDS.

Support Staff and Facilities Integration

Since refineries and chemical plants are both basically in the hydrocarbon processing business, many support components share similarity. For example, maintenance, purchasing, warehousing, training, safety/security and many types of technical support. Combining these services between plants can generate economies of scale and result in lower fixed cost per unit of product.

Points for Refinery/Chemical Plant Symbiosis

The specific examples mentioned above fall into general patterns indicating the fundamental symbiosis points between refineries and petrochemical plants. Both operations use the following general processes: Hydrogenation or dehydrogenation Cracking

Alkylation or dealkylation. Separation Extraction/neutralization/absorption Utilities production

Integrating like-production (e.g. utilities) or linking the sequences (e.g. FCC to Ethylene purification or Steam Cracking to Mogas) provides the basic routes to increased efficiency between refineries and chemical plants. Potential for integration does not remain stagnate. Continual change brought about by changing feedstock availability, economics, catalyst technology, product demand and new investment will always be a source for viable integration steps. With the competitive nature of both the chemical and refining business, evaluation of integration opportunities should be regarded as an evergreen task.