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$1M savings from energy reduction |
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Equipment selection advice |
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Project payback of less than 3 months |
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Challenge
Thai Oil is the owner and operator of a 220 TBD refinery at Sriracha.
It is also a part-owner of an adjacent 115 MW co-generation 3-on-1
combined cycle facility. The refinery produces a proportion of the
internal demands for steam and electricity. The co-generation plant
meets the balance of the refinery demands, while also producing
surplus electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority of
Thailand, and also steam and electricity to affiliates Thai Carbon
Product, Thai Lube Base and Thai Paraxylene.The refinery and
adjacent facilities require steam at a number of pressure levels.
Steam is provided by the co-generation heat-recovery boilers and
five dual gas / oil fired conventional boilers within the refinery.
This is distributed to the users via a series of inter-connected
headers. There are also several refinery process units that provide
fixed quantities of steam via heat-recovery units.
Steam is let-down between pressure levels using steam turbine
generators and by desuperheaters. Electricity is also generated by
three co-generation natural gas fired turbines and by two package
diesel generators in the refinery.
As part of Thai Oil's automation vision to deliver underlying
performance improvements, cost savings and reliable operation, an
optimization system was identified to also meet the following
objectives:
Reduce overall energy consumption.
Obtain the most cost-effective method of meeting the site's power
and steam demands.
Solution
AMS Optimizer was selected to provide a continuous
open-loop real-time optimization system to improve the economic
operation, minimize utility operating costs, and to optimize
distribution of load and supply under current operating constraints.
The AMS Optimizer delivers operational benefits by balancing steam
generation and turbine operation to minimize overall fuel
consumption.
The AMS Optimizer provides operational recommendations for the
optimal setpoints and constraints which include recommendations on
equipment changes. Optimal setpoints for operator implementation
include:
Gas turbine power
Steam turbine throttle and extraction flows
Boiler steam loads
Key constraints include:
Steam and electricity demands
Heat recovery boiler limits
Boiler fuel limits
Steam turbine generation limits
The cost function minimized by the AMS Optimizer includes:
Natural gas fired by the gas turbines
Fuel gas fired by the boilers
Fuel oil fired by the boilers
Boiler feed water for the steam generation equipment
The AMS Optimizer also informs the operators when it is
appropriate to start-up additional electrical generation equipment,
or switch between steam and electric machinery drives when there is
excess steam generation across the headers.
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