Quantifying non-energy benefits for energy-intensive industry – a case study of heat recovery measures in a Swedish oil refinery

Paper in proceeding, 2020

Energy efficiency is of great importance to reduce fuel usage and related emissions in energy-intensive industry. Since heat is used extensively in energy-intensive industry, one major op­tion to reduce energy consumption is increased heat integra­tion. Many energy efficiency measures are profitable based on energy cost savings alone. Furthermore, non-energy benefits may substantially strengthen the attractiveness of an energy ef­ficiency measure and increase its priority in the decision-making process of new investment projects. Although many studies in a variety of industrial sectors have identified the importance of non-energy benefits, few have quantified their monetary value in energy-intensive industries. This paper aims to quantify the economic value of selected non-energy benefits for a few exam­ples of heat recovery measures in an oil refinery and compare this to the energy cost reduction of the energy efficiency meas­ures. In a previous study, heat integration retrofits were designed and discussed in an interview study with refinery engineers. In the interview study, several non-energy benefits were identified for the designed retrofit measures, which are now investigated in further detail in this paper. The non-energy benefits quantified are production increase and greenhouse gas emission reduction. Other non-energy benefits are discussed. The results show that non-energy benefits can contribute more to the cost benefits of the energy efficiency measures than the fuel cost savings. This highlights the importance of considering non-energy benefits at an early design stage when designing energy efficiency measures.