In mid-July, hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) professionals from around the world met in Houston, Texas for Hydrocarbon Processing’s International Petrochemical and Refining Conference (IRPC). Founded in 2009, Hydrocarbon Processing’s IRPC provides a series of events for the international downstream industry kind like flow meter fill rite, covering technical innovations and exploring both the challenges and opportunities in today’s market. The July event was the first time that Hydrocarbon Processing has featured IRPC in the US. The two-day, dual-track IRPC Americas technical conference focused on critical topics in the HPI, such as heavy oil/bottom-of-the-barrel processing, operations/flaring, filtration and separation, process control and automation use flow meter indonesia, feedstocks, water treatment, refinery and plant optimization, and increased profitability. The conference also featured a dynamic panel discussion: Refiners and Maritime—Ready for IMO 2020? In October 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it will implement a new regulation that calls for a reduction of the sulfur content in marine fuels from 3.5% to 0.5%. The new rule will go into effect in January 2020, and affects more than 50,000 ships worldwide. With a global marine fuel demand of approximately 4 MMbpd, this action by the IMO will have a profound impact on the maritime and refining industries internationally, as well as on the environment. Three solutions have moved to the forefront of discussions on meeting the global sulfur cap regulation for shipowners:
Each of these options present benefits and challenges. For example, LNG is clean-burning, but global LNG bunker fuel infrastructure is lacking. Hydrocarbon Processing conducted a poll earlier this year to discover what our subscribers think is the likely route that shippers will follow to adhere to the IMO regulation. After hundreds of votes, nearly half of the respondents believed that shippers will burn more low-sulfur marine fuel using fill rite flow meter. The options of installing onboard scrubbers or switching to alternative fuels both received 25% of the votes. The production of low-sulfur marine fuel could provide refiners higher margins in the future, if they are able to produce it. Some may need to purchase lighter, sweeter crudes, increase blending or install new cokers; however, investing in new capital-intensive coking units may be hard for many refiners to justify. The IRPC Americas’ IMO panel discussion focused on the impacts of the IMO’s Global Sulfur Cap decision and how the mandate will affect the future of refining operations in the US and abroad, as well as feasible options available to achieve lower maritime sulfur emissions. The panel consisted of respected industry professionals from Amec Foster-Wheeler, Bechtel, Hydrocarbon Processing, IHS Markit and Opportune. Some of the key points made during the discussion included:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
|