Circular Economy Approach on Energy Cogeneration in Petroleum Refining

The heat recovery of hot exhaust air in petroleum refining for energy cogeneration is a circular strategy to reduce costs and environmental impact. Despite several articles on this subject, there is a lack of study on the assessment of the economic and environmental advantages of energy cogeneration in petroleum refining. The objective of this research was to evaluate the economic and environmental gains obtained by energy cogeneration from the heat dissipated in the calcination of green petroleum coke. The research method was a case study in a petrochemical industry in Brazil. From an economic point of view, the cogeneration unit project has shown positive results: a discounted payback period of eight years and nine months, net present value (NPV) over a span of a twenty-year period of US$43,825,592, a return on investment (ROI) estimated to be 14%, and an internal rate of return (IRR) of 12%. From an ecological perspective, the produced energy in the cogeneration process reduced 163,992 ton CO2eq per year of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. This study has increased the knowledge of heat recovery in energy cogeneration in petroleum refining. This work contributes by providing some advantages of heat recovery as a circular economy strategy for business development.