A leading refinery in Canada, with already top-quartile Energy Intensity Index (Ell) rankings engaged Trindent to push the frontiers of their energy efficiency with the aim of seeking Energy Star certification while simultaneously reducing their GHG emissions. Over the course of six months, Trindent developed and implemented over 170 changes that reduced natural gas consumption by 4.5% and electrical consumption by 3.7%. The engagement was not reliant on any capital expenditures or software.
4.5%
REDUCTION IN NATURAL GAS CONSUMPTION
$17,300,000
ANNUALIZED SAVINGS
3.7%
REDUCTION IN ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
HOW WE MADE IT HAPPEN
- Designed and implemented near real-time dashboards to monitor natural gas and electricity consumption, versus refinery forecasted demand.
- Implemented area-by-area sub-metering of electricity to promote ownership and awareness.
- Reduced flue gas quantities by repairing leaks, saving 2.2% and implemented advanced flue gas monitoring processes.
- Reduced excess air in boilers by optimizing fuel-to air ratios to improve boiler efficiency by 1.1%.
- Optimized the reflux ratio of the distillation column to produce energy savings of $1.2M by optimizing characteristics of the feed.
- Developed purchasing and repair specifications for motors (pumps, air compressors, fans and other applications) to ensure that motor speeds, loads and sizing were most efficiently selected.
- Reduced steam costs by $3.2M by implementing a scheduling approach that assigned priority to boilers that were more efficient.
- Implemented solutions to match natural gas consumption with forecasted demand and identify variances using statistical process control. Reduced electricity consumption by implementing over 60 changes to usage patterns in the plant such as lighting controls, and gradually replacing with LED lighting.
- Changed the FCC pumparound process to reflect changes over time to optimize energy efficiency.
- Saved 7,900 MMBtu per year in natural gas by optimizing boiler blowdowns that were excessive.